Walking down the streets of Palermo Viejo, on our recent trip to Buenos Aires, we came across a store that sells amazing jewellery We couldn't resist so we walked in. This store, we came to find out, carries works of local designers and that just made us love it even more. A pair of silver earrings with a rose motif caught my eye. It was love at first sight, I just had to have them.
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| Rose embroidered Earrings inspired by Maria's grandmother |
Upon our return to our apartment we researched the contact information of the artist, that the shopkeeper told us about, and I decided to email her and extend my compliments on her beautiful work. Ten minutes later there was and email back from Maria with a lovely invitation to visit her studio. Maria lives in an older but vibrant part of the city where you can get a real taste of Buenos Aires, where real life exists tucked away from the usual touristy attractions.
Her apartment is located on a tree-lined street. From the outside it looked like a regular one story house, but behind the main entrance there was a long corridor leading to many apartments.
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| Long corridor leading to different apartments |
Maria is originally from Mexico. Having spent many summers in Buenos Aires she fell in love with the city and decided to make it her home. She studied industrial design where she designed sculptures, but once she gave jewellery making a try, she was hooked. Jewellery gives her the freedom to showcase her creativity to a wide audience in different locations. In her studio are two cabinets housing her work. One cabinet is dedicated to her experimental works and the other one is the home of ready-to-wear pieces. It was interesting to see how on the surface the two lines seem to be significantly different, but looking closer there are definitely parallels that can be drawn.
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| Ready to wear line |
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| Experimental line |
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| A piece Maria is working on for an upcoming competition - a necklace that is 3,185 cm long representing the length of US and Mexican border. Each knot represents a person trying to cross that border where so many of them get killed. |
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| Maria in her studio |
Maria draws inspiration from her native Mexico as well as the seemingly unnoticeable details of everyday life.
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| Necklace and earrings are inspired by the leafs that fall in helicopter motion . |
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| Sketch book |
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| Desk on which most of Maria's beautiful work gets created |
Our visit to Maria's studio was an unexpected gesture on her part and it illustrates the warmth, spontaneity of the local people and the desire to share their story and hospitality.Maria also runs an Etsy store, so if you would like to see more of her work or request a custom item, you can do so
here.
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