Be Betty Fashion

On a cloudy Monday morning I had the opportunity to visit Dawn at her beautiful home in Elisenheim, from where she runs her business – Be Betty. Over a cup of coffee she invited me into her workshop, where she spends hours making unique and pretty polymer clay earrings, and gave me a frontrow seat to the process.

Her side hustle began with a seed planted and encouragement from one of her dear friends, and although she didn’t get around to it for several months, eventually she found herself with a couple of basic tools and a few chunks of polymer clay and was ready to create. It was a rough start and batch after batch didn’t make it further than the trash can. Dawn has high standards for what she puts out to the world. But once she got the hang of it and was satisfied with her handiwork, Be Betty Fashion was introduced to the rest of us, for orders to be placed via WhatsApp.

Dawn was a big part of the team that brought the Windhoek City Market to life, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic she (like many others) was forced to get serious with what was then a side hustle. A business born out of necessity. Very soon she was surprised by the demand and taking orders via WhatsApp no longer sufficed. She now runs a very efficient website for online orders.

As making polymer clay earrings is what most of Dawn’s time is spent with, and generates her income, one can say it’s her full-time job. She doesn’t see it as a job though, she says that working with clay and making beautiful pieces is more like therapy than anything else.

When asked where she draws inspiration from, her surprising answer was that many times patterns on wallpapers encourage her to pair certain colours. “For instance, I never thought I would use orange and turquoise together”, she said, and there, in our interview, she was with vibrant orange and turquoise earrings dangling from her ears. She doesn’t just make anything that someone suggests, especially if it’s not her style or carries the Be Betty personality. Be Betty is unique, colourful, and intentional - qualities that each piece must measure up to before it is shared.

Her business is named after Dawn’s mother, who she says is her motivator, inspiration and biggest supporter.

Be Betty Fashion earrings can be found either on her website www.bebettynamibia.com or at the following outlets: Rosenblute | Stampriet; Dishouwdt | Ferreiras’s Garden Centre Windhoek; The Red Shelf | Windhoek Craft Centre & Swakopmund; Blossom Blush | Swakopmund; BYC | Hentiesbay.

Ena Lingenfelder