Graduation Tales: Instagram brings business boost for new graduate Ellyw

Ellyw Jones

Being part of the social media generation has been a major plus for University of South Wales (USW) graduate Ellyw Jones, who’s built a booming freelance business through her use of Instagram.

The 22-year-old, from Llanerfyl,  near Welshpool in Powys, is celebrating achieving first-class honours in her Interior Design BA Hons degree from the University of South Wales (USW), and looking ahead to building on her already-successful business career.

Ellyw started her interior design journey when she attended an open day at USW’s Cardiff Campus, home of the University’s Faculty of Creative Industries.

“I chose to study at the USW because I loved the creativity and the high standards expected across the University,” she said.

“It was the best open-day I went to, and the course lived up my expectations pretty much from the first day, working on various live projects and being able to collaborate with, and showcase our work to, some interior design companies.”

As well as building close connections with businesses already operating in the sector, the course offered time on placement for second-year students.

“I was fortunate to work at Studio Severn Design in Cardiff during my placement,” Ellyw said.

“The experience was hugely beneficial as it introduced me to various new design elements and expanded my knowledge, which I will forever be grateful for. The placement has opened doors to a lot of different things for me, such as branding design, and helped me realise how much I enjoy other aspects of the industry.

“Being able to work with people from the industry early on gave me an accurate representation of expectations of employers, and motivated me further to succeed.”

During her final year at USW, Ellyw continued to work as a part-time freelancer for Studio Severn Design, but also used her newly-acquired skills and experience to build her own enterprise, offering Interior design, interior styling, and branding design for new businesses.

And it was here that she was able to take advantage of the opportunities presented by social media.

“Being based in a rural setting, I live on a farm, meant I wasn’t physically close to the businesses and designers in the industry, so wasn’t able to network in the traditional way,” Ellyw said.

“That’s why I started an Instragram account for my business last year, showcasing my work and what I was capable of doing.

“The account has worked brilliantly for me, and I’ve used it to get my career going. I’ve been able to get in contact with this specific people and have been able to do freelance work with them, and collaborate and talk to different designers and studios. It would have been difficult for me to get my name out there if it wasn’t for Instagram.”

Looking to the future, Ellyw has some ideas, but has not yet made firm plans.

“I have been thinking of how I would benefit from working in-house to learn different side of the role, while I could still do freelancing,” she said.

“I would also like to do some travelling and freelance while going around the world. It’d be great to see how different cultures influence tastes, and how different countries do different things.

“It would really help for me to get lots of additional experience, which is really important for interior design.”