At 10 a.m. the Latina neighborhood of Madrid is absent the evening hustle and flow of tapas-seeking crowds. Nevertheless, a steady stream of shoppers makes a detour here — young women in vintage dresses, bourgeois mothers with blunt -cut hair links of london, elderly ladies in nubby furs — ducking down Calle Almendro and buzzing the bell marked ”Helena Rohner” on an unassuming 19th-century apartment building Links of London Charms. They come to Ms. Rohner’s studio to scoop up her organic jewelry designs (for men, women and children) and home decor items.
Open the door and you’re in an artist’s workshop Links of London Necklaces. Ms. Rohner, gamine and tidy with strawberry-blond hair and bright lipstick, oversees her team as they polish and shine. ”They are made to be worn, to adapt to your body, to be comfortable, well made and not trendy,” said Ms. Rohner, 39, of her silver and gold rings for men and women, some set with wood, ebony or porcelain. She tries on a large, circular ebony ring (151 euros, or $222, at $1.50 to the euro), and a ring with a swooping base set with a dollop of black porcelain (120 euros).
Ms. Rohner was born in the Canary Islands and educated at the London School of Economics. Between high school and college, she spent a year in Florence Links of London Bracelets, where she stumbled into jewelry.