My Story - Hely Rotbard
I inherited the ‘creativity gene’. A friend sent me a kindergarten photo and there I am, aged four or five, wearing a bead necklace that I had made myself. Then, in 1992 when I was 16, the weekend newspaper illustrated an article on my high-school fashion show with a photo of a shirt designed by me. That made everyone at home so proud. I come from a creative family – my father has a bakery where he makes the most beautiful artisan breads, and my mother is a sculptor. I’m the middle one of three sisters: the older one is an interior designer and the younger is an expressive therapist, so creativity does seem to have been bred in the bone.The first thing I designed was a leather bracelet some 20 years ago. I hadn’t intended to sell it, but a woman asked where I had bought it and, when I replied that I had made it, she urged me to sell it to her! I did, but I loved it so I made it again. This is how Hely Designs started – very organically, a few items at a time that I’d sell days later.
I work from my house , One floor is Hely Designs and the rest is family space; I work a lot of hour, so this arrangement allows me to be close to my two children.
I’m thankful to wake up every day and do something I love. Design is part of my DNA.
I’ve no regrets – everything that has happened to me has made me the person I am. I have goals and dreams, sure, but I love the here and now.
