When Life Gives You Lemons: The Maker

Originally from France, 48-year-old Stéphanie Barbié has been a Barcelona resident since 2004. She lives in an old printing shop, house and workshop in Gràcia where she shares the house with her two daughters and cat, and the workshop with three other artists.

What do you do? 

I make jewelry and objects, mostly mobiles and wall-hangings. I work with resin, brass and recycled pages from old books I find in the street. I opened a shop in July 2019 near my home and divide my time between there and the workshop until closing the shop at 20:00, with a break in the middle to go home and make lunch for my younger daughter. The shop allows me to interact face-to-face with clients, although I also sell online and do some fairs and markets. Although I started making jewelry 12 years ago, this project is quite new and I am still in the process of people getting to know me and the shop. 

What lemons has COVID-19 given you? 

Sales in the shop started falling in late February and dried up almost completely at the beginning of March. On March 13, I decided to close the shop for safety. And of course, on March 14 I had to close anyway, just like restaurants, cafés and other non-essential shops.

Now I have no source of income as my shop is closed, markets have been canceled and my online page on Etsy is not very up to date as I had been focusing more on the shop. 

Other professionals in my sector are also badly affected. Most of us are often only scratching out a living anyway and January and February tend to be quiet months, so we’re used to getting through the beginning of the year on our earnings from Christmas. Then things start to get better around March and springtime, so this is very bad timing. Though I completely understand it’s the only way to stop the pandemic, I’m concerned that the longer the quarantine and the later we can go back to a kind of normal life, the harder it will be for me and a lot of other new, small businesses to recover. 

Are you making lemonade? 

I can focus more on the online part, even if for the moment I can’t send orders out for safety reasons. Also, I could make the most of the time to implement new things, but that won’t necessarily bring in any income right now. It’s hard to think of alternative services I could offer right now, but it’s funny because since January I have been focusing on how to improve my business, reading about financial education and the importance of having several sources of income. So part of my plan was to create online classes (I’ve been giving face-to-face classes for about 10 years anyway) and an ebook. I guess this is the proof that I have to do it! 

The truth is I’m struggling between the feeling that I have to make the most of this time to put new things together—do things I never have time to do, spend all day in the workshop to create now that I have the time—and the feeling of being very tired and a little sad sometimes. 

Any sugar out there to sweeten things?  

Right now, I just have the possibility of closing my business activities to get some unemployment benefits. 

How are you coping otherwise? 

I’m trying to keep myself and my daughters sane and healthy. Right now, in Spain, I can cook, do some exercise, meditate, read, clean my house and watch some TV shows with my daughter! Ah, and do some DIY in the house, but all very slowly. I feel like I need some time to accept, be sad if necessary, observe, rest… After that, I will be able to make some decisions and move forward.

Are there any silver linings?  

I believe that we as individuals and as a collective need big crises to change and evolve. From my personal experience, I know something good will emerge from this crisis. It won’t be easy and will need a lot of work but it will be good in the end. I reckon maybe that’s why I am a little down and slow in my activities for the moment: it’s time to rest before the big work, time to think about what’s important in life and business, to make some changes if necessary. Let some things go, work differently on others. Let’s be creative, flexible and just keep moving. After all, it’s a state of mind that can work even in quarantine!

How can people connect with you?  

My work is online on Instagram: @stephaniebarbiejewelry and Facebook: @stephaniebarbiejewelry and you can view my Etsy shop here.

Kate Williams is a freelance writer, editor, translator and Director of The Writer Stuff. She left her native England for Barcelona in 2003 and never looked, or went, back. When she isn’t writing or discovering all the cool stuff going on in the city, she enjoys hiking in the Catalan countryside, kayaking on the Costa Brava, and volunteers at a local animal sanctuary. You can read more by Kate here.