Meet the Designer Behind Pinkhot Jewellry: Chloe Menage

Meet Chloe of Pinkhot: A Passion for Color, Creativity, and Community

This month, we’re thrilled to sit down with Chloe, the bright creative force behind Pinkhot, a UK-based bead design and teaching brand known for joyful color and inspiring tutorials. From her home on the south coast, Chloe shares her vibrant designs, infectious enthusiasm, and love for teaching beaders around the world.

Eureka Crystal Beads: Who are you? Introduce yourself and your platform!

Chloe: Hi, I’m Chloe! I’m a bead designer and teacher based in the UK. I live on the south coast with my husband and six-year-old daughter. 

I design and create fun beading patterns which I share as PDF tutorials on my website, through my live  Zoom workshops and on my YouTube channel. I also love to collaborate with amazing beady brands (like Eureka) to share free projects and more! 

I’m known for my love of bright colours! I love the dopamine hit that comes from working with and wearing vibrant colours - and I particularly like pink, hence the name for my brand, Pinkhot. You’ll find fun colour combinations in many of my beadwork designs. 

I love to teach others beading! It’s my passion! I adore being able to inspire and encourage others and share my love for beads with beaders. Seeing students grow in confidence and skill is always a big boost for me. 

Chloe in her studio

ECB: How long have you been beading? How did you get started?

Chloe: I’ve always loved to craft and dabbled with handmade jewellery and other crafts as a kid but have been beading properly for over 15 years. I discovered beadweaving completely by accident while at university studying Journalism. I was home for the weekend when my art and textiles teacher mum leant me some books and a bead loom she had come across. I was totally hooked; beading offered a welcome release from the pressures of my final year.  

Turning seed beads into loomed and stitched bracelets and chokers became the perfect way to unwind at the end of the day. I was self-taught initially, learning what I could from The Art and Elegance of Beadweaving by Carol Wilcox Wells. I started working at a bead shop after university and learnt so much there, taking as many classes as I could and voraciously reading books and magazines. 

I’ve been running my own business, Pinkhot, since April 2009. I started it initially as a side hustle selling my beaded creations, before turning my hand to teaching, creating kits and designing tutorials, as I loved sharing my love of jewellery making with others! 

At the end of 2017, I gave up my career in marketing and the financial security that came with it, to follow my passion full time and inspire others, as I had been inspired myself. I have been full time freelance for the past seven+ years and love the flexibility it gives me. 

Chloe's studio/bead room

ECB: What’s your favorite thing about beading?

Chloe: I enjoy everything about beading so I don’t think I could choose one thing. The art of stitching is a calming and soothing process with a meditative quality. I am at my happiest when curled up on the sofa with my bead mat stitching beads. I love seeing pieces spring to life under my fingertips and playing with colours and textures. 

The beading community itself is also a big part of the hobby for me – the friends I’ve made, cheerleaders and support I’ve garnered and the wonderfully giving people you find in the bead world really do make beading what it is for me. 

I won’t lie; sometimes creating the tutorials can be tedious, with a lot of hours spent at the computer drawing intricate diagrams when I’d much rather be beading, but I absolutely love sharing my craft with others. It’s an amazing feeling when I can help others discover the joy of beading. I especially love it when customers send me photos of their finished projects using my patterns. 

Chloe's workshop from her perspective

ECB: If you could only use one stitch forever, which would it be?

Chloe: I don’t think I could choose between right angle weave (RAW) and peyote! But if you forced my hand it would probably be RAW as I just love the versatility of this stitch and how it can be the basis for so many other stitches. I work a lot with CRAW and some of my favourite ever creations like Astronomical Clock and Juntos Links use CRAW. 

ECB: What’s something you wish you knew when you were starting out?

Chloe: This is a great question! I think, having given this a lot of thought, here are a couple of things I think are helpful when you’re new to beading: 

• Don’t waste money on poor quality materials – I understand not wanting to spend out when it’s a new hobby and you don’t know if you’re going to stick to it, but it’s a false economy. Buy good quality seed beads and decent beading thread, it will make beading much easier and you’ll be able to enjoy it much more because your projects will come out better!
• Always choose permanent finish or Duracoat when working with galvanised gold or silver beads – Future You will thank you. It’s a shame to spend hours on a piece of beadwork that the colours then rub off after you’ve worn it and loved it!  
• It’s ok to ask for help – in fact this advice covers more than just beading! Don’t let anyone make you feel stupid for asking a question and never feel you can’t ask for help or advice. As a tutor I always say there’s no such thing as a stupid question, you might be asking just the thing that someone else is wondering.  
• Always ask for help rather than struggling on alone – the beading community is wonderfully supportive and there will always be someone there with more experience than you, so lean on them. If you don’t have beading friends nearby, then find yourself a lovely and supportive online group who you can get tips from. 

ECB: What’s your favorite project you’ve ever done?

Chloe: I’m really proud of my Yoake Bottles – they were the first sculptural, self-supporting ornaments I had created. They took a bit of trial and error but I’m really pleased with how they turned out. Writing up the pattern took a really long time and is one of my most extensive tutorials to date.  

The bottles were based on a set of perfume bottles I saw on display at the Museum of Glass Beads and Jewellery in Jablonec, Czech Republic. This year I retired this project as a Live workshop and released the tutorial, complete with video guides, as an online beading class, so that beaders can enjoy this comprehensive project, but work through it at their own pace from the comfort of their home. 

In a different vein, I am also very proud of the wonderful community I have built and continue to build. My free drop-in Zoom bead group started during lockdown and has become a safe space and place for joyful connection for beaders all around the world. I am now working on growing my Facebook group, the Pinkhot Bead Room, to provide a similar virtual space for beaders to connect with other beaders, get support with their craft and learn. It’s really starting to thrive with new members joining every week! 

ECB: Tell us one unexpected or interesting fact about yourself!

Chloe: From my teens I wanted to work in radio or TV as a presenter! I trained as a Broadcast Journalist at university, did lots of work experience placements all over the place, including at the Disney Channel and BBC, and volunteered at local radio stations for years. But, I gave up the dream in my early 20s when beads started taking over my life! 

I guess I use those publishing skills now, when it comes to creating and presenting my videos on YouTube! The excellent writing skills I honed are particularly helpful when creating my easy-to-follow and comprehensive tutorials!  

Follow Chloe and Pinkhot

If you love colour, creativity, and community, be sure to follow Chloe’s work at:
pinkhot.co.uk

YouTube: Pinkhot Beads

Instagram: @pinkhotbeads

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Autumn Leaves Workshop
Nov 23/30 2025
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