About Us
WHO IS HELENA ROSE?
Lets journey back to Lancashire 1944. Helena was born in Lancashire a quaint town called Lytham St Annes,She was the only daughter of Cotton Mill workers Charles &Rose Edge. She had a hard upbringing that taught her to be resilient and self preserving.
Helena left school at 15 and worked as a secretary for a local metal work factory. She saved what money she could and would use this to buy art materials. She loved painting and writing poetry.
Sometimes after work she would take discarded wire, washers and bolts from the factory waste and use them to create homemade jewellery for herself. She would wear these bracelets and necklaces to the local dance and coffee shops at the weekends.
Helena’s friends began to comment on her handmade jewellery and she was asked to create some for them too. She was artistic and had her own bohemian style. She began to work with copper wire as it was easy to twist and bend and it was shiny and reflective. Helena knew a little about the medical benefits of wearing copper but initially this was not the reason she chose to work with copper. She made many lovely pieces of jewellery for numerous friends in her hometown.
This is where you would expect Helena’s story to turn into a Rags to Riches tale and for me to tell you that she went on to become a famous designer and her designs were loved and worn by famous people – but that was not the case.
Helena was an everyday local girl who married at 18 and then had four children. She never got the chance to realise her dream of having her poems published or her Jewellery sold in a chain of shops. She worked hard and raised her four children the best way she could on the little money she had, life was hard in the 1960s. Helena suffered from rheumatoid arthritis from a young age as did her mother before her. She never complained, she wore her copper bracelets and she just kept going. Sadly, aged just 56 Helena was struck with cancer passed away in 1999.
Skip forward to 2007 and the birth of Helena’s 10th grandchild Rosie. Rosie was born in Lancashire a happy healthy, life loving child. She is christened “Rosie Helena” after the Grandmother and Great Grandmother she never got to meet.
In 2015 Helena Rose Jewellery was born from the enchanting ideas of eight-year-old Rosie.
One day after a long conversation about her Grandmother, who she was and what she did in her life - Rose announced that She was going to be just like Helena and that She was going to create her own jewellery too.
“What shall we call our jewellery? “ she asked me. It was simple! We both knew it had to be.
HELENA ROSE JEWELLERY
Now our pieces of jewellery are not handmade by Rosie of course but she does have a Big part in choosing manyof the styles and products that we stock. Each piece is chosen with care and love.
There are a handful of pieces that were exclusively chosen by Rosie and there are a few copper bangles that look very similar to the ones that Helena made by hand back in the 1950s.