This month, we're celebrating our 14th birthday and we’re so excited to share this special milestone with our wonderful customers. We thought now is the perfect occasion to share fourteen facts you might now know about us…
1. Hand on Heart started from the kitchen table
Our founder, Amanda Dixon, started Hand on Heart from the kitchen table when she quit her job in accounting after maternity leave. After having her second child, Amanda had the idea to capture those beautiful memories through jewellery. Looking back at the launch of Hand on Heart, Amanda said: “It was literally from a kitchen table business. I started looking round at personalised jewellery and there was nothing that fit the bill of what I wanted. So, we set up a lab on the kitchen table and started trying it ourselves and came up with the idea of hand-printed jewellery.”
2. Hand on Heart is based in Cumbria, UK
Our Hand on Heart studio is based just outside the Lake District in Cumbria, UK. The studio is situated in a peaceful courtyard with cobbled paths and an orchard dotted with picnic benches, surrounded by rolling hills and stunning countryside. You couldn’t ask for a more tranquil, beautiful place to work, and many of our staff love its proximity to the Lakes. The location means the studio is perfectly placed for a post-work hike or a lakeside dip in the summer months!
3. We employ 11 staff members and we’re an all-female workforce
We’re extremely proud to be an all-female workforce at Hand on Heart. Our close-knit team of 11 employees thrive in our friendly and welcoming working environment where staff have the opportunities and flexibility to grow, learn and hone their skills. Employee satisfaction is extremely important to us, and we take pride in the fact that each evening, our staff can walk out the door knowing they have contributed to creating something unique that our customers will love and treasure forever.
4. Grief Encounter is our official charity partner
Grief Encounter is a charity that’s extremely important to us, and we’re proud to support and fundraise for them each year. Grief Encounter’s mission is to give every child and young person access to the best possible support following the death of someone close. Their services include counselling, workshops, residential retreats, and a national, free, and confidential helpline and instant web chat, among many other incredible grief services. To find out more about Grief Encounter, please visit their website: https://www.griefencounter.org.uk/
5. Longevity is one of our core values
At Hand on Heart, we don’t believe in trends or throwaway jewellery. Longevity is one of our core values, and it’s why we craft stunning pieces that capture sentimental memories, look beautiful and will stand the test of time. This idea is at the core of absolutely everything we do.
6. Many designs are inspired by our customers
Did you know that many of our designs are actually inspired by our wonderful customers? We truly appreciate each and every one of our customers, so when they speak to us, we know how important it is to listen. Customer feedback has even led to the creation of brand new collections. For example, listening to our customers is what led to our handwriting range.
7. It takes three years to become a jewellery designer
The average time to become a fully qualified jewellery designer at Hand on Heart is three years. Our experts in the design team work incredibly hard to learn our processes. They learn how to use special techniques which are unique to Hand on Heart, and they ensure that your jewellery is designed with love, created with care, and made to last.
At Hand on Heart, we work with more than 100 funeral homes in the UK and
Ireland. Those funeral homes offer our ashes memorial jewellery and memorial fingerprint jewellery to people looking for beautiful and unique ways to remember their loved ones. As a result of this partnership, we have a good idea of funeral directors’ essential roles in the grieving process. You can find out more about these partnerships in our Q&A blog with independent funeral director Jill Glencross, who offered some fascinating insights into the work of funeral directors.
9. We’ve been featured in the media
The media has interviewed us a number of times over the last fourteen years since our launch. We’ve been featured in many news titles, including local publications Lancs Live, Cumbria Live, and The News and Star, to name just a few!
10. Customer satisfaction is enormously important to us
Our outstanding reviews are testament to the expertise of our staff, who deal with each order professionally, with care and attention – and, of course, compassion, especially for the memorial pieces. The greatest advertising we can enjoy as a business is word of mouth from satisfied customers, which is a privilege and an honour we’ll never take for granted. If you would like to read some of these incredible reviews, please visit our reviews page.
11. We create limited-edition designs as well as our regular collections
You might already be familiar with our limited-edition designs. We’re constantly exploring new ideas that we can introduce, both from our own research and from customer feedback. Sometimes, these limited-edition designs are so popular that they stay as a permanent collection!
12. Celebrities love our jewellery
We made a beautiful handprint heart necklace for radio and television presenter Fearne Cotton which featured her baby Rex’s handprint and name in sterling silver. We also made her partner, Jesse, a fabulous plectrum with a print on one side and My Daddy Rocks on the reverse. Britain’s Got Talent winners Ashley and Pudsey also created a beautiful necklace of Pudsey’s pawprint using one of our Magic Print Kits. Presenter and Strictly star Helen Skelton loves our jewellery too.
13. Christmas starts in September for us
It might sound early, but we love getting in the Christmas spirit from September onwards! Christmas is one of our busiest periods, so early preparation and good organisation is key to ensuring we can create as many unique pieces of jewellery as possible. We might be running on advent calendar chocolate and Christmas songs, but we don’t mind because the idea of people waking up with a Hand on Heart box under the tree is a wonderful present in itself!
14. Last but not least, of course, we absolutely love what we do
We’re proud to create jewellery with heart and soul. We’ve been doing this for the last fourteen years, using processes and techniques that are unique to us. If you order through us, you’re guaranteed a Hand on Heart original, as we don’t sell on any other website or through third parties. Our Hand on Heart collections are not your average jewellery – we pride ourselves on creating handmade pieces that capture your precious memories and will be treasured for a lifetime.
There we have it… 14 facts you might not know about Hand on Heart. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating this special anniversary this year!
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