Katie Rawsthorne the Creative Force behind Picnic Blanket Jewellery

Katie Rawsthorne is the creative force behind Picnic Blanket Jewellery, the lampwork glass jewellery business taking social media by storm. 

Starting in 2020 from her bedroom, with £50 worth of beads purchased from eBay, fast forward to 2025, Katie has grown Picnic Blanket Jewellery into a full-scale business, with a small team operating out of a recently renovated commercial space. Katie has facilitated substantial organic growth by focusing on her social media content, amassing over 1 Million+ followers across her social platforms. This has enabled her to establish a global customer base for Picnic Blanket Jewellery and allowed the brand to operate effectively within its own specific niche. 

Katie has kept the focus of her content on the handmade charm of her production process, keeping interactions personal and lighthearted, which has fostered an inviting environment for her community to flourish. 

Katie is looking forward to growing Picnic Blanket Jewellery further and is excited about what the future will bring.

“Be authentic, true to yourself, listen to your heart and trust your gut and most of all don’t be afraid to fail or consider what others may think.”  – Katie Rawsthorne

Katie Rawsthorne founder Picnic Blanket Jewellery

Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us in your words, about your inspiring story? 

Of course! I think my love of being creative in all aspects of my life has been the driving force behind creating Picnic Blanket. 

It all began when I was little. As a child, I always felt artistic and creative, a little bit different perhaps, with a love of animals and miniatures. I believe these two factors have really influenced the work that I do at Picnic Blanket. 

After graduating university with a degree in English Literature, I found myself working as a bid writer (exciting I know) in the construction industry. I think I realized quite quickly that I wanted to put my passions to better use and really work to create something meaningful. I also have always had a strong desire to be financially independent and work for myself, so that was certainly always a motivating factor in starting a small business. 

It was during the final months of my last “proper” job that I began designing and creating jewellery. I was working from my bedroom buying beads from eBay and constantly experimenting with designs. I realized quite quickly that if I wanted to really bring my idea to life I needed to let my creativity flourish and create truly individual pieces with special meaning. As I was already working with glass beads, I decided lampwork was the natural path that I should take. 

At the time I didn’t actually have any form of lampwork experience and I have since discovered that it is considered a little bit of a lost art. It was very popular in the 1980’s/1990’s, but it hasn’t really had the resurgence it deserves in this millennium. Because of this, there wasn’t a lot of information online about the craft, so I conducted a wide range of research myself and I am proud to say that I am completely self-taught after only about a few thousand hours! 

I truly think that I finally found my medium working with glass and I like to think I brought elements of every artistic venture I have tried with me into Picnic Blanket. After I tried lampworking for the first time I walked out of the studio and instantly burst into tears. I had found it, my thing, call it a calling or whatever you want but that was it for me. I immediately began planning my own glass studio and every idea of every charm I had ever dreamed of suddenly became a possibility, something I could finally share with the world. I was irrevocably drawn to the magic of the process, the flame, the heat, the trial and error, the mastery. There is no room for error. I have now spent what feels like a lifetime at my bench working with my torch, thousands of hours and I don’t plan on stopping. 

How did you market your business when it was brand new? 

Although I was operating my jewellery business for some time before creating lampwork pieces, I consider my business truly started when I focused on creating content showcasing my process of handcrafting high-quality lampwork glass charms. 

I received a high level of engagement from my very first post and I haven’t looked back since. I think the nature of the process plays a large part, it is just so eye-catching and grabs the viewer’s attention quite quickly. An element of danger always makes people pay close attention! 

Despite quick success in views/followers I quickly found that you can’t guarantee virality, 4 however, you can always remain consistent. I kept pushing and creating content, and I see it akin to investing in myself and my brand. Sometimes a video can go viral months after its initial posting when it is picked up by the algorithm, but it has to be there in the first place for that to happen, so I try not to feel discouraged if a good idea isn’t initially hyper-successful. 

This was my biggest takeaway from these first years. Results definitely don’t happen overnight. I am proud to say all of our growth at Picnic Blanket has been completely organic, we have never spent any money on advertising. 

Our biggest success story probably lies with our YouTube shorts channel, a video that got 28 million views almost overnight on the back of a 19-second video that I had posted weeks before. Our channel went from 700 subscribers to 200K. The next thing we knew, a silver play button arrived at our office! 

With all that said, I would say grabbing attention is a relatively easy part of what we do, keeping and converting it is where the true challenge lies. 

“Know your worth, don’t undervalue the quality of your work or the time that went into what you do. If you don’t value yourself, how can you expect others to?” – Katie Rawsthorne

What is a typical day like for you? 

I would say every day is different when you are running a small business, you are part of every single decision and every task, from designing, making, and being creative, to emailing customers, packing orders, and managing your team. You are constantly trying to identify opportunities while simultaneously creating content and working on big-picture thinking in the background of it all. 

If you had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, what would it be?

My first piece of advice would be to just give it a go and get started. Be authentic, true to yourself, listen to your heart and trust your gut and most of all don’t be afraid to fail or consider what others may think. Comparison is the thief of joy, cliche but very true. 

A lot of people never try because they fear being labeled as cringey, embarrassing, or over the top. But when you look at a lot of successful people that is exactly how they got there. It takes a lot of courage to display yourself online, there will always be negativity but after you experience some success you quickly forget about that! 

My second, arguably most important piece of advice I have lived by is not to take advice or criticism from people I don’t admire. If you wouldn’t want to trade lives with them, why would you take their advice? 

Every entrepreneur has a goal and problem they’re trying to solve. What was the inspiration that started your journey? 

Personally, autonomy and creative independence were my biggest driving forces. While working at my last job, I realized I wanted to do something more, that I was creatively stifled and I needed to have more control of my life. Be authentic, true to yourself, listen to your heart and trust your gut and most of all don’t be afraid to fail or consider what others may think. 

The corporate structure also really wasn’t for me and I felt greatly undervalued and underappreciated. I was putting effort into work that didn’t align with my passions. I knew I wanted to do something with true honest meaning and value. One of my favorite ways that we offer this at Picnic Blanket is through our custom pieces. We take clients’ photos of their pets and create truly meaningful and sentimental pieces for them to treasure, out of glass! Seeing the elation these pieces bring to our customers is incredibly fulfilling. 

What would you consider your biggest accomplishment and why? 

Starting my business, absolutely. Everything I know and everything I am has gone into Picnic Blanket. It really is my life. I am incredibly proud of myself for that decision, and everything we have achieved so far with PB, but I do believe the best is yet to come. 

We all face challenges. Looking back, what have been some of the biggest challenges and obstacles you’ve had to navigate? 

I think for me, taking outside influence into my business. After our initial rapid growth I realised that you can’t do it as a one-woman band, especially with the high-touch nature of what we do. To that end, I have had to enlist help to cover various elements of our business, so I could focus my efforts on the overall business development and direction more effectively. 

Can you share some of the most important lessons you’ve learned from your successes and failures in business? 

Being authentic is very high up on my list, this would be good advice to anyone else as well if you are trying to copy someone or something, you will never make it, you’ll always be two steps behind them, It is very easy to emulate those you admire when you’re just starting out, especially with the influence of social media – but stay true to your vision, you’ll be grateful later. Secondly, I would say that it is important to know your worth, don’t undervalue the quality of your work or the time that went into what you do. If you don’t value yourself, how can you expect others to? 

In addition to this, I would also say that nurturing your community is also essential to maintaining a loyal customer base, this means constantly engaging on social media, looking after all your customers and, when something goes wrong, you fix it even if it wasn’t your fault. The customer is always right! 

What advice would you give to a new business owner? Or to your younger self? 

Definitely don’t care what anyone thinks. Be original and don’t ever stop. Share all the content you make, even if it’s not perfect. Get it out there and just improve the next time. Strive for perfection but settle for direction. 

Equally, you must also be prepared to pivot, you won’t always end up doing what you started out to do, in the way you envisaged doing it. The direction you have in your own head isn’t always the right path, listen to your customers, they will tell you which way to go! Do the above and you will always be okay! 

How do you set your business apart from others in your industry? 

I believe Picnic Blanket stands alone because of our process, and our brand. We put art and creativity at the heart of everything we do, from our jewellery pieces themselves to our branding and our overall presentation. Our glass pieces are the foundation that truly differentiates our brand in the jewellery space and are absolutely our USP. Although we may round out our brand and product range with complimentary pieces, our core of glass is here to stay and truly offers a unique value proposition in what is a very crowded space. 

We also really pride ourselves on our level of customer service and the customer aftercare we provide. Problems happen, they are an inevitable part of running a business, but it’s how we deal with them that really sets us apart. Be honest and upfront with what went wrong (even if it wasn’t your fault) and explain quickly and clearly what you are going to do to rectify the issue and 99% of the time the response you will receive will be incredibly positive. 

What social media platform is the best for business growth and why? 

I think most people today would be inclined to say TikTok, but I would wholeheartedly say Instagram is my preferred social media platform. You can engage with your community more easily and curate your brand image more effectively and with greater depth. There is more meaning behind everything you post and your content feels more purposeful. You aren’t solely posting there to try and gain attention and you are able to nurture your community more effectively. In my experience, I find that it is easier for people to revisit you, even if it is only months down the line. We regularly get a larger quantity of people who have followed us for a long time and regularly engage with us on Instagram, but who have only officially become customers further down the line. 

Do you have a favorite quote or motto that inspires you? 

I would say my favorite motto is – nothing changes if nothing changes! Sometimes you can’t just expect change to happen in your life. You have to proactively change things, move out of your comfort zone, and take risks to maximize your opportunities. 

“Look after all your customers! when something goes wrong, fix it even if it wasn’t your fault. Problems happen, they are an inevitable part of running a business, but it’s how you deal with them that’s important. Be honest and upfront and explain quickly and clearly what you are going to do to rectify an issue and 99% of the time the response you will receive will be incredibly positive.”  – Katie Rawsthorne

What is next for you and Picnic Blanket? 

We have so many fantastic ideas that we are so excited about implementing this year and beyond! Ranging from new charm ideas to innovative customizable pieces and even new accessories categories, we have a lot that we are working on behind the scenes. 

However, I would say the next step for Picnic Blanket is to scale our operation to meet our demand, while ensuring we keep all of the charm that makes us special and delivering even more value to our customers. 

We are very lucky to have put together a fantastic studio team, who now handle the majority of the operations side of our business, providing customer service and handling order fulfillment. The largest challenge we will have to overcome this year is finding artistic talent to join our team. As we grow we intend to train lampworkers directly in-house, but in the short term finding skilled people who align with our vision and want to join our journey will be the key to implementing sustainable growth for our brand. 

If anyone would like to follow our journey we’d love for you to join us! You can find us on socials: @picnicblanketjewellery and if you’d like to see some of our work for yourself, you can visit our website: www.picnicblanketjewellery.com You can also find me @katieemmaaaaa on Instagram and Tiktok! 

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