Whistle & Bango – Jewellery Gets Personal

Forever Fulham or proud of your Putney roots? Now you can wear your heart on your wrist with London-based jewellery label Whistle & Bango. Born out of a love of London, Whistle & Bango channels the strengths of its three founders – Ania Kubow, Rosie Parkes and Ashley James – into a line of postcode bangles that celebrate community spirit, as well as supporting the homeless and vulnerable people in London.

‘Whistle & Bango began as Ania’s brainchild,’ co-founder Rosie told us. ‘She then approached myself and Ashley with the idea and we fell in love with the concept.

‘We all have the same ambitious, competitive streak, which is fantastic. All the while, our skill sets are very different. Ania is very talented with technology and numbers, Ash is the queen of PR and fashion, and I bring forward the marketing element. We’re on the phone to each other all day every day, pinging ideas around and then in the evenings we meet up with our friends – we have the same social circles. All in all, it’s the perfect relationship!’

After deciding that their brand name should be memorable and relevant – Whistle & Bango was chosen as fun and lighthearted but bold. A ‘Bango’ is actually a rare breed fish, and was in keeping with their target market – elegant and independent ladies.

After selecting their first five postcodes and deciding to offer a percentage of every sale to charity, Ania sourced the suppliers, Rosie wrote the copy, and Ashley (model and former Made in Chelsea star) got the bangles on key celebrities and spread the word in the PR world – Whistle & Bango was created.

Rosie added: ‘It was extremely important to us to support local communities, which is why we donate £1 per sale (the bangles cost £69) to SHP, a charity who supports vulnerable people in London. London is made up of thousands of communities. They are the heart of the city and we enjoy bringing them into the limelight to celebrate.’

So what are these bangles like? Hand painted with gloss, generously plated with gold or silver and stamped with a choice of 22 postcodes (favourites include E1, W1, E8 and SW3, the ‘Chelsea’ bangle, naturally), we have to admit we love them! A new ‘Canvas’ bangle that’s gold plated with glossy ivory enamel was also launched last week, allowing any postcode to be etched onto it (priced at £79).

‘We will always be adding new postcodes to the original embossed range,’ said Rosie. ‘We’ve just added nine postcodes and will continue to watch our online poll where people vote for the postcode they’d like to see next. The postcodes with the highest votes will be next.

‘We’ve also got ideas to branch out to other cities. There are too many incredible places in the UK for them to be ignored, such as Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham and Oxford to name a few. In the future we’ll be looking further afield too, but I won’t give too much away,’ she concluded.

To find your own postcode bangle visit the Whistle & Bango website.