Jewellery That Tackles Homelessness
“ I was homeless and hopeless. I didn’t imagine myself that I would be making jewellery and selling it in shops. Being part of Pivot has helped me mentally and has given me self confidence in working with a team and being part of a social enterprise."
Pivot Jewellery Maker
Pivot is a North London based social enterprise employing young homeless people who live in hostels to make beautiful jewellery. The makers are paid the London Living Wage, and learn skills that help to make them feel valued, and give them a sense of self worth.
Pivot was founded by Alice Moxley in 2019, an architect who gave up her career to undertake a postgraduate social innovation programme. As part of the programme she worked as a key worker in a YMCA, which involved offering advice to help get people into work. The hostel was chaotic, and the restrictions placed on the people there, (such as specific meal times and no opportunity to eat if you miss them), created further barriers to prevent them from finding employment.
Alice has always made jewellery as a hobby, and when she started to wonder if there was work she could bring into the hostel herself to get over these barriers she turned to jewellery making. The metal is prefabricated, and the pieces are sanded and assembled by hand by the makers in the hostel.
One of the first to join, Jason, has gone on to be a Team Leader. He’s been struggling to get out of the hostel, but the programme has helped him rebuild his life.
“Doing work like this keeps people ‘off the road’”
Jason, Pivot Maker
Initially Pivot started with 4 makers (who are still working with them), they now have 6 new makers, and they’re expanding out of London to start a new programme in Taunton. This will more than double the number of people the enterprise has employed so far.
Alice isn’t stopping there. She’s planning to build workshops in hostels for making furniture and candles, and to set up jewellery making training sessions to be run by the makers.
“I now have a different perspective for the future. I feel much more creative now and have found that I am able to things I never thought i could do. I enjoy the entire process in making the pieces all by hand and learning things I never knew before, it’s also therapeutic. I absolutely love working with the team and the positive energy we all get from one another. The whole concept has been inspirational. I now have a different outlook on life.”
Pivot Jewellery Maker