Meet the Clever Clogs behind Creative Clogs

My name is Charlotte and I am the sole person behind CreativeClogs.

The name came from the term ‘clever clogs’ that was so often used in my home when I was a child, so I swapped clever for creative and here we are. The shop started when I was 16 still doing my GCSEs as a way to direct some of my free time in a positive creative way rather than trying to constantly figure out which of my many hobbies I wanted to do that day. It continued during college as I did my 4 A Levels, which were cut short by the original lockdown.

I paused for a bit during my law degree, but now I’m 23, heading back to uni for my masters after a year away from education and now dedicating some focus to learn and grow my shop.

I’m based in Surrey and do small makers markets local to me. I lived in Spain for a year during my degree – I speak a relatively fluent level of Spanish and of my 5 books I have on the go at once, I try to have one in Spanish to keep using it now that I don’t speak it every day.

I started out making just polymer clay charms, which were added to necklaces and stitch markers. The first things I ever made were lollipop sweets that became necklaces, earrings, stitch markers or anything else I could add them to. Then came the cupcakes, milkshakes and dogs you see today.

Those grew to little models of turtles and dolphins, I even tried making some large mice but those got left in the idea phase for their structural fragility. I then found a way to incorporate my other hobbies into the shop. Quilted keychains, little fabric pouches, crochet items, knitted bears and now paracord keyrings and keychains.

Growing up in the Scouting movement, paracord was often used for variety of things, not always craft projects. I started to find what I would consider ‘pretty colours’ of it to make keyrings and keychains. The difference you ask? The keyrings are the basic one on just their split ring, the keychains are attached to swivel clasps with a short chain attaching the split ring.

My focus is really on small batch, well made products. Making 3-5 of each variant allows me to give the attention and perfection that they deserve, and that you deserve when buying from my small business.

The uniqueness of each item means you know you’ve got something really special.

Not every dog face has the same sad pout, not every milkshake has the same little smile. These two charms are my favourite to make. I love mixing the colours for the milkshake charms. I tend to listen to music or maybe have a YouTube video playing while I’m creating if I’m at my desk. If I’m making on my sofa then its time for some TV. You can find my online on Instagram and TikTok @CreativeClogsCo. I share my other non-shop hobbies on TikTok!