Helena Rohner x INDI&COLD
30 years of design, art and authenticity
Helena Rohner celebrates 30 years as one of the most elegant and unique designers of the national panorama. Her brand, funded in Madrid in 1995, has been awarded the Fine Arts medal and the Red Dot Design Award, and she is an international reference thanks to her own language: pure lines, beauty and a mix of bold materials, from silver to blown glass or 3D printing.
We talked with Helena about creativity, craftmanship and her collaboration with INDI&COLD, a union celebrating useful beauty — Beautility— and the power of well-made things.
Your brand celebrates 30 years. How did your journey start and what changed, or what stayed the same since then?
I studied a course of jewelry in Florence- a gap year between school and university – I loved it. I was going to study politics, and I saw there that working with my hands came naturally… The year after, I moved to London, and I studied International Relations while taking night classes of artistic jewelry.
Once I finished my degree, I gave jewelry a real try, working with various jewels, and above all with Rabun. With her I discovered creative jewelry connected with both fashion and art; and with her I travelled to Paris for fashion fairs. There I met different important buyers with whom I felt that it was a real way of life. Barney’s New York and Tokio were my first clients and with this first order, I created my company and project, 30 years ago!
Before that, we were working with very specialized buyers that came from all around the world to make jewelry selection, and they were sent without knowing where or how they would be shown. Nowadays, there is a global connection with direct clients in amazing places. It’s something that I love, and it makes me particularly happy to think that my design is universal enough so that people from different cultures understand it. For me, that is a good design.
I keep questioning the rules, looking for alternative materials…. I’m getting older and more experienced, but deep down I still feel like a little big rebel. My father, a huge reference for me, used to say that I was subtle yet stubborn. That’s the key: be different and personal. That’s also why my brand is my name.
We see the concept of our FW25: Beautility collection in your pieces, this balance between beauty and functionality. Where does this inspiration come from?
Inspiration is something very abstract. Sometimes it is unconscious and the longest you stay in this condition of creator, the more you trust that intuition that I don’t know how to describe when I am being asked about it.
As a starting point, I would say that we design what we do not find in our surroundings. The design of a product is a functional art, and thinking about the use of the piece that we make is the biggest challenge of all, but it is fundamental that we keep the focus on the well-made so that it can last in time. The Danishes call it slow design and is defined exactly as this, looking over a piece repeatedly until it works, esthetically, physically, and is made with consciousness. Beautility is a good concept designed for real people.
Silver, gold, brass… but also ceramic, blown glass, miyuki or PLA 3D printing. How did this personal combination of materials come to life? Which ones do you have pending, is there any material that intrigues you and that you haven’t tried yet?
The base of my jewelry is always metal: silver, brass, and gold. It’s the material I model in wax and that represents those organic or liquid shapes that I like so much and that define me. Even if I make many pieces exclusively in metal, I also feel that materials that are different than metal, in contrast, enhance its value. Personally, I like to try and to learn, working with various suppliers is very exciting.
I would like to work with alabaster or marble, volcanic lava… Right now, I am developing pieces with glass, and I keep collaborating with Comme des Machines on new 3D filaments.
You received prizes such as the Fine Arts Medals (la Medalla de Bellas Artes) and the Red Dot Design Award. What do these rewards mean to you in your journey?
I’m modest and I’ve been educated in the value of hard work, away from the sparkles. That’s what comes with having a Swiss protestant father😊 The prizes are wonderful and I’m grateful for them as they are a recognition of our work, my team and I, so we enjoy them. I’m very happy to think that we carried out this project for so many years. Companies are complex entities; design is only a part of the effort. There is so much energy used in keeping a coherent discourse and maintaining a team that has been with me for many years.
You’ve spent years defending craftmanship and local production. How do you see the future of these professions in Spain?
I’m the daughter of a weaver and dyer. I witnessed her struggle to highlight the importance of craftmanship, and I’m happy to see that it is increasingly understood over time.
My personal bet has always been on local production; jewelry carries a soul because of that, and I’m almost superstitious about it. It has been a natural decision because I wanted to be very close to craftmanship, and I also felt that this was what differentiated me in the international scene. I never get tired of telling how outside Spain, they admire and appreciate us. I hope that this demand for craftmanship will come back and that the younger generation comes back to these professions.
What is the role of fashion in your life? How would you define your personal style?
Fashion is the expression of oneself, and it must breathe social changes that surround us. It’s fun and exciting. I like fashion, just as much as I enjoy art or photography.
My personal style? Somebody told me the other day that I have a “gamine” style. A simple woman, maybe a bit au bout du soufflé; not super feminine but who always play with color and lipstick. For me, it’s very important to feel natural and comfortable and I believe that attractiveness is in the second impression.
Photo by Lourdes Cabrera
What attracted your collaboration with INDI&COLD and how did you live it?
It’s a clothing brand with a warmth and natural essesnce. There are pieces that accompany you but without disguizing you, timeless and contemporary at the same time. I can imagine different personalities wearing the same INDI&COLD pieces and still projecting a different image. I would say that my jewelries share with INDI a similar philosophy. I design thinking about me but at the same time, when I go to the market, I see 80 years old women or girls in their twenties wearing my jewelries and appropriating them.
You were born in the Canaries Islands, but you live in Madrid. For this fall, what would you recommend to someone visiting the city? A restaurant, a museum, and a perfect plan.
I live in La Latina, my favorite area to drink a coffee and go to Cocol, a shop with a fantastic selection of crafted pieces. My store is in the Almendro street (Calle Almendro), and is worth a visit as well 😉 Trèsde is my favorite restaurant for special occasions; incredible author cuisine, well thought and made. I love the Architecture Museum, Museo ICO, and the Thyssen Bornemisza is not to be missed, now there is an exposition of Warhol/Pollock and we made special jewelry inspired by a painting by Helen Frankenthaller.
My perfect plan for a Sunday is to go to the Rastro, JI would recommend to visit Reno, a shop of Scandinavian designers, among other things.
