Emerge / D12

[More than] A few weeks ago I participated in a very cool event involving emerging fashion and jewelry designers, and it was appropriately named Emerge. (I’m making a habit of posting about things that have already passed, please excuse me, I’m so behind.) It took place at the Museo de arte y diseño contemporáneo in San José. The idea was to pair up one jewelry designer with a fashion designer and see what they could come up with, and present it in a full-on fashion show. I had the opportunity of working with fashion designer Marcelle Desanti. Our designs worked well together, and we had fun creating the looks and pairing our existing pieces with each other.

The results were so good, and the event itself was super fun, impeccably organized and full of people.

This was the flyer, featuring costarrican model Leonora Jiménez (isn’t she beautiful??):

Here’s a few images from backstage and the catwalk:

Above: models getting hair and makeup done; jewelry designer Fiorella Pattoni fitting her pieces on a model; catwalk lists on the wall.

Above: models backstage; catwalk photos by photographers Luis Eduarte and Fabio Chavarría.

The other designers that participated in the fashion show were:

Fabrizzio Berrocal & Amira Jalet / Maria Lourdes Castro & Melina Dada / Tripartito & Fiorella Pattoni / Carlos Villalobos & Julieta Odio.

Etsy shop + update

I’ve been slowly adding items to my shop. Turns out I have a ton of jewelry patiently waiting to be listed! Here’s a peek:

And in other news, I started collaborating with my friends Alfredo and Paco, who organize the interdisciplinary design festival FID here in Costa Rica [if you're into design of any kind, look into it! The past guests have been amazing, and the ones to come are awesome too]. We are working together on their blog, to hopefully reach out to the design community in Costa Rica and other (spanish speaking) countries in between events. There’s a lot of information floating out there, and not too many virtual venues in this region that filter and share it. We want to promote central and south american designers and makers as well, so if you have any suggestions we’d love to hear them, as well as design from everywhere else.

Here’s a screenshot of how it looks for the moment. Take a few minutes and browse if you like :)

New photos of new work

I took some photos of my Amuletos collection. I like the contrast of the bright colors against the grey background. I used to take pictures on white only, and now I’m rethinking it.

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And also there’s some new photos of previously sadly ignored Atenea neckpieces. They look quite nice right (for a non pro)?

There’s still a box of unphotographed items, but I’m making progress. I’ve been trying to take pictures and price all my pieces that for one reason or another (read: I hate setting prices, so I ignore them until I can’t anymore) have been left behind.

I found I have a few of older rings and things lying around that I might put in my store under a ‘sample sale’ category, sort of a cleansing sale. These pieces need a home, they’re all sad inside a box. I’ll keep you posted!

Gemstone and mineral stamps / 4

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Source: mineralstamps.com - *composites made by me

Gemstone and mineral stamps / 3

These beautiful stamps come all the way from Russia. Look at that malachite!

Source: mineralstamps.com - *composites made by me

“Entra en el Teatro”- course with Carles Codina / part 1

At the beginning of this month I had the pleasure of attending a course with the renowned jeweler and teacher Carles Codina i Armengol. He came to Escuela Crisol last year, and I could not attend unfortunately, so I was very happy to be able to make it this year.
Carles and Jordi (my teacher) go way back, as they studied together at Escola Massana, one of the leading art and design schools in Europe. They are still good friends, and lucky for us in Costa Rica, they decided to collaborate and bring amazing courses across the Atlantic.

Last year the classes were mostly practical, and I hear they learned how to make mokume-gane, among other cool and complicated techniques.
This year the plan was different. The approach was focused on the conceptual part of jewelry design, geared specifically to the design of a piece of jewelry to be sold at the gift shop in the Costa Rican National Theater. We were to design a piece inspired by the theater itself, to serve as a souvenir to whichever target group we were to choose (habitual opera fans and theater buffs, or in-and-out-in-five-minutes tourists), and in turn choose a price point to correspond with the spending habits of each group. The piece had to include packaging, so it could be displayed in it, and be packed quickly upon purchase, and hopefully, the packaging would be appealing and special enough to draw the consumer in and add value to the piece itself. It was a tall order for a class that would last less than 10 days- but we did it!

To begin the whole thing we all visited the Teatro Nacional to take pictures. I have to confess that I hadn’t been there in years (probably since elementary school). This theater is considered one of Costa Rica’s architectural jewels, and it was built in the 1890s with money earned by the country through a tax imposed on coffee export (one of CR’s major industries still to this day). The style of the theater is very interesting, as it mixes European influence with images of Costa Rican agricultural images- more specifically, the Alegoría del café y el banano (Allegory of coffee and banana), by artist Aleardo Villa.

Here are some images from our visit:

floor pattern and the group looking up / mirror detail / numbered seats

the Allegory of coffee and banana: image on our ¢5 bill / lady picking coffee

elaborate doorknob / ceiling light fixture

foyer / wall detail in the foyer, 1890

floor pattern made with national precious woods / cool floor tile / big lamp in the theater

Though I didn’t get any pictures of the outside, it’s very beautiful as well, so google it :). Until the next installment.

Gemstone and mineral stamps / 2

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Rhodochrosite, amethyst, petrified wood and tourmaline. You can see which one’s my favorite.