Hi, I'm Georgie!
Founder of Academy Of The Enchanted Arts
‘The sound of colours is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with base notes or dark lake with treble…generally speaking, colour directly influences the soul. Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposely, to cause vibrations in the soul.’
- Wassily Kandinsky
Welcome to the Academy Of The Enchanted Arts!
My name is Georgie (she/her) and I’m so happy you’re here!
Kandinsky understood what I have long held in my own heart: that the arts are more than objects or sounds, they are living vibrations that awaken, move, and sing the soul. It is this belief that guides the Academy of the Enchanted Arts.
I am devoted to the courage to reclaim enchantment in a world that often feels disenchanted, to people who anchor themselves in wonder, who use imagination, beauty, and creativity to sing themselves back to life. And I am devoted to the transformative power of the arts: music history, art history, fashion history and literature, as doorways to reverence, curiosity, and joy.
My Story
Art, music, and craft found me as soon as I could hold a pencil or press a piano key!
I grew up in Dorset, cradled between the sea and the forest, and the Wirral, where my hands were always busy making something out of nothing.
As a little girl, I would gift endless drawings to friends and family, and transform forgotten things, even old broken violins, into bursts of colour in the spirit of Jackson Pollock!
At four, I began the piano, and later, the violin. My school years were filled with musicals like My Fair Lady and West Side Story, where I discovered the thrill of stage magic and the way music, art, and theatre can braid themselves into one shining spectacle.
It was this passion that carried me to University, where I longed to study both art and music in equal measure. But instead of harmony, I met with division. I was told I must choose one discipline, as if I could separate music from colour, or rhythm from form.
My heart rebelled, for to me, they were never separate, but bound together in ways I could feel in my very soul. Kandinsky himself spoke of this mystery: that colours are like keys, the soul is like a piano, and the artist merely touches what already vibrates within us.
I knew he was right. And yet, at University, I felt increasingly lost and unseen, as though my deepest truth had no place. Out of that restlessness, in 2010, I turned to my hands once more, and created a side project that became its own enchanted adventure: Beauxoxo, a handmade hair accessory business that bloomed beyond my wildest imagination....
Beauxoxo and Blogging
I began selling my Beauxoxo hair accessories on a local level at markets throughout the South Coast and through ‘I Love Crafty’ in Bristol, before officially launching my international Etsy store in the same year.
Beauxoxo soon escalated when, in 2011, I was invited to attend and partake in the Clothes Show Live.
During the event, I was approached by Jamie Stevens, the X Factor hairstylist, who subsequently purchased a variety of my pieces for Little Mix to wear on the show. To my surprise, when the Final show aired, Perrie walked on stage flaunting one of my glitter bows!
My hair accessories have been worn by some of the biggest Youtube stars and influencers, such as Zoe Sugg, and featured in magazines like ELLE and Marie Claire, turning what was once a part-time crafting hobby into a full-time dream job!
At the same time I opened Beauxoxo, I also documented my journey through Georgie xoxo, a blog dedicated to seeking everyday whimsy, with a heart full of wanderlust focusing on travel adventures, pretty crafts, wellness, and words on finding the meaning in life through wonder and enchantment.
It has always been my quiet hope that my blog, once graced within the pages of Grazia and lovingly nominated for the Company and Cosmopolitan awards, might serve as more than a collection of words. I dream it as a lantern, glowing softly in the dusk, guiding a soul into the deepest realms of wonder and enchantment.
A place where one might step across the threshold and, for a moment, feel the veil between inner world and outer dissolve. This is why the arts so captivates me, for they, too, are portals.
For me, the arts open doors into forgotten dreamscapes, into lives lived with fire, fragility, and devotion. They remind us that beauty is not merely to be observed, but to be embodied.
Chronic Illness
Beyond my wildest dreams, Beauxoxo grew exponentially from the age of just 19 years old, and so became the focus of all of my spare time.
However, it was also during these exciting times that I received the life-changing news that I had developed a benign Pituitary Tumour called a Prolactinoma, coupled with PCOS and Endometriosis, when I was still studying at University.
Naturally, the news left me feeling like I was existing under a very dark cloud, despite on the surface painting a picture of endless adventures and glitz and glamour through Beauxoxo and my blog.
Alongside all of the above, I was also continuing to develop deeply debilitating and mystifying symptoms that later led to a diagnosis in 2018 of Scleroderma; a rare, chronic autoimmune disease of the immune system, blood vessels, and connective tissue that affects 2.5 million people worldwide.
It was from this diagnosis that I decided to say Au Revoir to Beauxoxo as I lost the dexterity in my hands that I used to have. Fearing I would not be able to continue my passion for crafting and music, I had to make a very difficult decision to end this flourishing business I had built with my (literal) own hands.
And yet, as so often in the great myths and fairytales, it was in the darkness that a hidden gift was revealed. Chronic illness, though painful and frightening, became my greatest teacher. It showed me that even when the body feels calcified with pain, the soul still knows how to sing. It also taught me that those of us who walk through illness often become more attuned to beauty than anyone else, for we learn to see the glimmers of light that others rush past.
Through this unchosen path, I discovered the true heart of enchantment: incantare, meaning to sing oneself back to life. And it is to this sacred work that I now devote myself.
The Importance Of The Arts
I truly and passionately believe that we’re all creative beings. It’s the signature of our species, the breath beneath our existence. Creativity is in our DNA. It is written in our ancestors who carved stories into stone and painted their prayers upon the walls of caves 40,000 years ago. And it is written in you and me, here and now, as we scroll through music playlists or linger over a painting in a gallery.
Simply put: there’s not an inch of this earth that hasn’t been touched by creativity. And yet, we often forget: the arts are not just things we consume, they are medicines of the spirit and ways of being sung back to life when the world feels too heavy.
Think of Vincent Van Gogh, who poured his aching soul into the swirling skies of 'Starry Night' a painting born from despair, that now brings light and wonder to millions. Or consider Beethoven, who when faced with deafness, a silence more profound than most of us can imagine, gave us his Ninth Symphony, the 'Ode to Joy', a testament that even through suffering, beauty can still thunder forth. Or Simeon Solomon, whose exquisite paintings, often shadowed by exile and scandal, radiate a luminous devotion to the human spirit, revealing that even in the face of isolation and sorrow, art can remain a sacred song of the soul. And think too of William Wordsworth, who found solace in daffodils and taught us to return to nature when the mind grows weary.
All of these voices whisper the same truth: when we turn to the arts, we remember that to create is to grow, to blossom again from soil we thought barren. The root of the word creativity, from the Latin creatus, “to grow”, reminds us that art is not an accessory to life but the very force that keeps it vibrant.
When we listen to music, when we gaze upon colour, when we lose ourselves in a story, we feel the pulse of life again. We feel our own souls begin to hum.
And this is why I teach: to invite you into this rapture and awe, so that you too may marvel at the miracles stitched all around you. I believe with all my being that the arts are among the most powerful forces of healing and happiness in the world. They steady us, they revive us, they sing us back to life. And it is my deepest devotion to help as many people as possible discover this sacred truth.
What Is The Academy Of The Enchanted Arts?
With the Academy of the Enchanted Arts, I long to help others, especially those who feel lost, fragile, or weary, to remember their own song, and to be sung back into wonder through art, music, and story. Chronic illness taught me that even when the body feels fragile, even when life seems heavy or calcified with pain, the soul still knows how to hum.
The arts, visual, musical, literary, are our most profound instruments of revival, our portals back to life and awe. Here I am now, hand on heart, following the golden thread of my calling to create a sanctuary for kindred spirits of all ages, a space to discover and embrace the arts as medicine for the soul, and to leave a trail of wonderment wherever I go, both online and offline. And I am so deeply thankful that you found your way here.
The Academy of the Enchanted Arts is the first resource of its kind that brings together art history, music history, fashion history and literature (as I have always dreamed) for curious humans of all ages, to experience the arts through the lens of enchantment.
At the Academy Of The Enchanted Arts, you will find wonder-filled, inspiring, highly creative, and enchanting content to connect you to every aspect of the arts.
What you learn and embody at The Academy Of The Enchanted Arts will nurture your mind and soul, open your heart and imagination, and inspire you to give yourself the trust to lead with enchantment, curiosity, playfulness, and creativity in everything you do.
To discover your pathway to the enchantment of the arts, you can explore the current Academy curriculum below. I long to meet you in class, but until then, I will leave you once more with the words of Wassily Kandinsky:
‘Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting.’ ♥
