Our Social Focus Is Empowering Women

In a nutshell, we're a Social Enterprise empowering single Mums by creating unique jewellery that'll make you look good and feel good.  What that means in practice is that our range of gold-plated and semi-precious jewellery is handmade by stay-at-home Mums with no access to formal employment. We pay our Mums 40% of the cost of each item because we put people before profit. Why the cost price? Our single Mums get paid whether the item sells or not.

Now, you're probably wondering, what's a Style Nomad?  Put simply, if you've made your home in more than one country and consider your style eclectic, then you're one of us.  Just as importantly, if you prefer timeless style over fashion, then you'll love what we have in store.

Why Single Mums?

According to the Lien Centre for Innovation about 88,000 single, widowed or divorced women head households with a per capita income of $375. Singapore has the highest GDP in South East Asia but there is no official poverty line, the women we help are recommended to us via government organizations such as the Family Service Centre. Social workers contact us to secure employment for single women struggling to look after their children. We started at a Hackathon organized by the Arthur Guinness Fund, a UK Charity; the event was set up to find innovative ideas to help marginalized women in Singapore. Supporting single Mums has remained our social mission since 2012. We have trained over 50 women with jewellery making skills and with your help we can train more.

Meet some of the women we work with. Hear their story:

I came for the training, not sure if I could do such fine work. But in my first lesson, I made a pair of earrings! And even got a prize for it. I didn’t know that my short, stubby fingers could come up with such beautiful things. Now I made earrings for my friends and relatives and look, I am wearing my own creations! – J, single Mum with 3 kids

I love to learn, to improve myself. South-west CDC gave me a stall on weekend to sell my beads and jewelry. It has supported my eldest daughter through to polytechnic and now only left my 2 more children to support. I need more skills to become better at making jewellery, so I can make prettier things to sell at the market. So this place is good for me. There are volunteers who will train me to do more difficult beading, give me the patterns. When I go for classes outside, I had to pay. Here, I don’t have to pay. – S, single Mum, staying in a 1-room flat

Wah, I can learn a skill forever. My health is not good. Sometimes I need to go to the hospital. So I am absent from class. But I learn from training videos, so I can catch up. I am hardworking, I go home and practise with the things and tools DUA gave me. I am better and happy that I can do something – a break from looking after my nest. L, single mom of more than 5 kids. I always love hobbycraft; my daughter and I would make origami together when we are free. So when North-east CDC told me about the free skills training, I quickly signed up. My first lesson, I brought home a necklace – for my daughter. This work is suitable for me as I am a cancer survivor and sometimes my back aches, I have to rest a lot. -E, single Mum with 2 kids below 12

“It really helps when we get a call from DUA. Whatever amount we get helps to feed my family.” - Liza, main breadwinner

“I really enjoy making jewellery. It's a wonderful environment where I can bring my son. He plays around, it's really nice and helps me financially.” - Sharon, single Mum with 1 son

In 2020 we realized many more groups need our help. We have helped other marginalized women who need extra income such as deaf, those suffering from mental disability, and the elderly to name a few. We are a network of women helping women and we do not stigmatize our beneficiaries. So you won’t find us showing their faces or promoting them directly. This is to preserve their sense of dignity and being sensitive about what we do. In the interest of transparency we hope customers will want to find out more - so please get in touch with us and you can meet the people behind the brand and find exactly what we do.