CQFinder Featured Business: CRZyBest

For the latest in our series of Featured Business from our CQFinder community, we spoke to Claire R. Zwozny-Bestwick, owner of CRZyBest.

Give us your elevator pitch – what does your business do?

I’m Claire R. Zwozny-Bestwick, also known as CRZyBest: I’m an eco-friendly Silversmith & Sculptor creating tiny sculptures in precious metal clay, which I then turn into bespoke jewellery, accessories and alternative wedding bouquets. This means if I can make it, you can have it and it will last for ever!

Tell us about a piece of work you’ve completed that you’re currently proudest of?

One of my pieces of work that I’m most proud of is my copper dragon bouquet, inspired by Game of Thrones and created for the Fantasy Realm at last year’s Unconventional Wedding Festival. Prometheus, whose precious metal I clay I use, even published ‘A Fairytale: The Birth of a Dragon’ all about the making of my copper dragon.

The original alternative wedding bouquet idea was going to have 700 individual wire stems, to symbolise the seven kingdoms, the stems were slightly heavier than my usual Swarovski® only creations, as I had included dragon inspired semi-precious stones, such as Fire Jasper, Dragon Veined Agate and Obsidian which is also known as Dragon Glass. When I realised my original bouquet design might be quite heavy, I asked the opinions of my social media followers, as to whether to go ahead with one massive, rather heavy bouquet or create two bouquets and the decision was to create a large bouquet with 500 stems and a smaller bouquet with 200 stems. This decision to create a pair proved to be great as it meant I could showcase different sizes and shapes of bouquets at the festival.

Creating the dragon for the large bouquet really pushed the boundaries of sculpting in copper clay, I was able to use and combine my knowledge of both silversmithing and ceramics to create my sculpture, It’s fascinating how the properties of the copper clay are similar in some ways and also so different to ceramic clay. I also had to be careful that my dragon would not only fit in my kiln, but as it was copper, the sculpture needed to be able to fit in my carbon firing pan.

The size of the dragon also meant that the usual firings times for copper clay wouldn’t work, however I was lucky to have Prometheus on the other end of an Instagram messages and after being given the measurements, they worked out bespoke firing times for me, which was brilliant customer service.

I love the challenge of being able to work on projects that push the boundaries of my knowledge, skills, materials and equipment, causing me to learn new things, allowing me to adapt, grow and create even more elaborate sculptures.

What do you love about working in Nottingham?

I love working in Nottingham as the events are so vibrant and filled with opportunities, such as being invited to speak at The Big House Expo last year, held at St Mary’s in the Lace Market or showcasing my creations at Tying the Nott Wedding Fair, organised by Caz Walsh also known as ‘The Wedding Alchemist'.

Another awesome reason that I love working in Nottingham would be the exciting collaborations that take place! Taking part in projects and collaborating with other creatives is the best, such as one of my favourite times when I teamed up with Nottingham Wedding Photographer Kirsty Rockett to work on an urban photo shoot.

Share your love for another Nottingham creative or digital business you work with or admire.

Kirsty Rockett Photography is an amazing person and business to collaborate with, we have attended events together and collaborated on photo shoots to enhance our portfolios. I have also created sterling silver rocket earrings for Kirsty to match her branding and I’m currently working on a tiny rocket sculpture inspired by her logo, to turn into a bespoke lapel pin.

Last year, we collaborated on a really successful urban shoot, which took place around some great places in Nottingham from the boards at Sneinton Market to the steps of Rock City and the walls of the Rescue Rooms. We finished that fantastic day by relaxing in ‘Wired’, a great independent coffee shop on Pelham Street, Kirsty took yet more photos, as our coffees were being expertly made. Kirsty created some totally awesome images of my Pink Starry Rainbow Alternative Bouquet that day along with so many fantastic photographs around Nottingham. We have plans to collaborate again soon on a number of projects.

Let us know what you’d do on your perfect Nottingham day (global pandemic notwithstanding!) – where do you go/eat/drink/shop?

My perfect day in Nottingham would have to include browsing the amazing array of jewellery making goodies at The Bead Shop Nottingham, followed by something tasty from Doughnotts before heading to few of my favourite real ale and craft beer establishments, such as Totally Brewed’s Overdraft or Neon Raptor’s Tap Room to taste their latest offerings and collect inspiration for my newest hop inspired creation and beer lover jewellery collections. Stopping by Annie’s Burger Shack would probably be a good call, before going to watch the talented Tori Sheard singing at the Bodega bar would be an awesome end to the evening!

You can find out more about CRZyBest and get in contact with them via their CQFinder profile here. If you'd like to create your own CQFinder profile, click here.