Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** Helena Rohner marks three decades in jewelry design, blending political science insight with artistic passion. Her philosophy—that adornment becomes part of one’s identity—underscores a career driven by continuous self-renewal.
Helena Rohner, a jewelry designer who studied Political Science before entering the world of jewelry, celebrates 30 years in the field. She looks to the future with the goal of continuous learning, stating, “If you don’t stimulate yourself, what do you have to offer?”
Rohner (born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1968) defines her pieces as timeless, comfortable, and contemporary. They connect with daily life, a creative jewelry that “fits very well with the current moment.” She emphasizes that a piece of jewelry is “an intentional piece that defines the wearer. The icing on the cake, the final touch” to complete a look.
A recipient of the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, Rohner notes that “designing is looking to the future.” Now is the time to pause and analyze a career path she is proud of. “I have been coherent, fair; I have maintained an ethics in how I do things and I help the people around me,” especially those just starting out in creation.
She warns newcomers about the need to build a business, not just design, and encourages them to learn all aspects of a profession where there is a shortage of lathe operators and foundry workers—traditional crafts that must coexist with digital craftsmanship.
Her pieces—earrings, bracelets, bangles, or rings with a simple appearance—require great artisan work. They are flashes of light, small sculptures, she indicates, in which she uses color differently as an expression.
Although jewelry design was not her initial goal, the influence of a mother who was a textile, color, and dye artisan, and a father who made wooden puppets, led to her passion for creating jewelry. “I knew little about design,” she says with some shyness, a reason she humbly approached the artisan and worked on her first collections with the materials she knew best: wood, ceramics, and enamels, using silver as the base material. She was a pioneer in using porcelain in her jewelry, despite being warned it was not possible. “I’m stubborn and rebellious,” she says by way of excuse.
Winner of the Best Contemporary Jewelry Project award from the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), her creations have been worn by actress Julianne Moore in Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘The Room Next Door,’ and the filmmaker asked her to create the pieces worn by Aitana Sánchez Gijón in his latest film, ‘Amarga Navidad,’ yet to be released.
With stores in Madrid and Barcelona and extensive collaboration with leading multi-brand spaces around the world, she is proud that on the same day she can sell a piece in Cádiz, Taiwan, New York, Brussels, or Sweden. She started her clientele in Japan and the United States before Spain.
She describes her first decade as a creator as “naive”; the second helped solidify a long-term career in which she has survived crises and changes in government, discovering that “the great trick is to listen to what’s happening around you,” Rohner emphasizes.
The artisan says that in this third decade, intuition has served her well in knowing what she wants, and she admits that her intention is to remain a company that maintains local production, with small collections that contrast with mass production, allowing her to support a predominantly female team.
A career in which she has needed to ask herself, “Why do I keep doing this?”—a moment she used to expand her creativity and venture into the design of rugs, textiles, and home objects.
