All my beads and, where possible, necklace chains are sourced from charity shops and flea markets. I mainly focus on finding gemstone, shell, ceramic, glass and pearl beads to make truly special pieces.

My aim is to save the beads from landfill and give them a fresh lease of life as bespoke, sustainable pieces of jewellery designed and handcrafted in my home workshop – giving old beads, new stories – and most pieces are one of a kind.

To ensure optimum hygiene, all findings (earring hooks, wires, etc.) are brand new and sourced from my local bead shop Beadz Bazaar – one small business supporting another!

Speaking of which, my fabulous logo was designed by my talented friend Sophie. You can check out her other work on the Etsy shop Soph's Palette and Instagram @thefromiebooksniffer.

The Venerable Bead logo is inspired by the opening page of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, England (c. 800-850). It's such a beautiful manuscript page and well worth a look.

Hi, I'm Helena! The Venerable Bead was born out of a decades-long enjoyment of making jewellery (rest in peace Yum Yum Beads, Leeds), a penchant for charity shop crawls and flea market rummages, and the need for a hobby away from a screen after long days as a journalist and editor. 

I was making far more jewellery than I could ever wear and, when other people showed an interest in my pieces, I hoped to be able to turn it into a sustainability-focused business.

The brand name? My family has a much-loved connection to Northumberland and Bede is one of its most famous residents, I'm slightly (okay, very) obsessed with history and antiquity and, most importantly, I love a good pun. All of this perfectly combines into The Venerable Bead. Unfortunately, I can't take the punny credit as the name was the brain child of another genius friend Kerry, who you can often find helping me at markets.