Bereaved woman founds popular jewellery business to ‘commemorate’ unborn babies at the size they were miscarried

A woman who made a ring to “commemorate” how small her baby was when she miscarried at seven weeks has founded a jewellery business to “break the stigma” around pregnancy loss.

Jess Roberts, 32, based in Fulham, west London, discovered she was pregnant in June 2023 with her then-partner, but she sadly lost her baby in July when her nine-week scan revealed there was no heartbeat.

After undergoing two “traumatic” surgeries to remove the pregnancy tissue from her uterus, where a complication left Jess “close to sepsis”, she felt the need to honour her baby and grieve.

Searching high and low online but not finding items relating to early pregnancy loss, Jess had a ring made for herself to represent the size her baby grew to before it was miscarried, symbolised by a blueberry made of sterling silver.

Jess, who is now single and does not have any children, felt others may find themselves in her position and she decided to turn 18 gestation indicators into ring pendants, starting with a poppy seed to represent the beginning of life and ending with a banana for 21 weeks.

“I wanted to do something to commemorate this little life and not be forced to brush past it or act like it never happened,” Jess told PA Real Life.

“There is still a bit of stigma or shame in talking publicly about miscarriage because of the fear of making others uncomfortable.

Jess found out she was pregnant in June 2023.

“I had quite a few early scans straight away because I was quite ill,” Jess said, adding she suffered with “extreme” morning sickness.

“I had some other complications, such as an ovarian cyst, so they were scanning me every two weeks.

Jess had a silent miscarriage at the end of July 2023, where the baby has died but it has not been physically miscarried.

She had two dilation and curettage (D&C) surgeries in August 2023 with the aim of removing the pregnancy tissue from her uterus.

“Unfortunately, mine went wrong and I had to be rushed back in to have a second one, it was all very traumatic,” Jess explained.

After the second operation, Jess was able to make a full recovery but the experience quickly left her wanting to find a way to “commemorate” the loss.

“I have a picture of me in the hospital holding up my hand to show my friend what I was thinking with the jewellery,” she said.

Jess said she started to look online but found nothing seemed fitting for her early pregnancy loss.

“They have lovely things for later on but when I was looking, it just felt like there was nothing truly special enough,” she explained.

After going onto her pregnancy app, Flo, to switch it back to “not pregnant”, which she said was “horrible”, Jess noticed the app displayed the size her baby had grown to – which was illustrated by different fruits for each week.

Jess designed a ring with a sterling silver blueberry pendant for her to wear which symbolised the size her baby had grown to at seven weeks.

She then realised other bereaved would-be mothers could also benefit from her creation.

“I never really thought of it as a business idea, it was just a little passion project,” she said.

Jess then designed 18 early gestation indicators for jewellery pendants, concentrating on rings.

A poppy seed pendant symbolises the very start of life, a sesame seed represents five weeks, a lentil shows six weeks and a blueberry is used for seven weeks.

In December 2023, Jess launched the website for her company named Little Santi Designs – a nod to the baby she lost which she would have called Santi if it was a boy.

In January 2024, one of Jess’ TikTok videos showcasing the business went viral, causing it to boom in popularity until she was able to leave her former job in wellness in February and work on her company full time.

While Jess first hand-packaged each ring herself from her home, she has since enlisted the help of a warehouse based in Birmingham – but she will still stamp every box herself.

On the response from her customers, Jess said it has been “overwhelming”.

“I didn’t expect to find a community with it,” she said.

Jess has also created a ring for those undergoing IVF treatment, symbolised by three small circles within a larger one, and she has also received requests for later pregnancy losses and male jewellery.

“My ultimate goal now is that everyone feels there is something for them,” she said.

To find out more, visit Little Santi Designs at: littlesantidesigns.co.uk.