It’s early morning in Valencia, Spain when I call Natalia from a coffee shop in Saigon, Vietnam.
The Costa Rican designer has been based in Spain for the past four years, and this morning she has just arrived home from spending the weekend at a workshop in England, learning about enamelling on steel and copper. Natalia has been a jewellery designer for nearly a decade, which is what we’ve arranged this cross-continental Skype to talk about.
I met Natalia in Paris while we were both visiting the city. It was a pit stop on her way to Estonia in order to pursue a six month course in jewellery design.
She often travels for jewellery workshops, and sees it as a way to get a fresh perspective for designing and making jewellery in her workshop based in Valencia.
“When I travel it’s for myself. It’s when I do most of my reading, writing, and thinking. I usually try to go to museums, exhibitions, and I have more time to myself. And yes, I used to travel a lot, even before making jewellery. I had this thing where I fell in love with places. I lived in Australia, in Guatemala, I was hopping around places….” The more you see, the more you realise is out there. It’s enriching, it’s also a lifestyle. You decide this is what I need.”
What has turned into a decade-long career began as a doctor’s prescription. Natalia was suffering from back pain and stress brought on by her work in human resources. Her doctor told her she was too young to be so stressed and prescribed “a hobby.” She always had a passion for jewellery, so it was an obvious choice.
It was through a jewellery workshop in San José, Costa Rica that this passion became a business. Natalia credits this with having an amazing teacher. After noticing her knack for jewellery design, her instructor asked if she had ever sold her jewellery. She hadn’t, since the jewellery she made was for herself. So he made her a deal: she could use his workshop for free for the next three months; but at the end of those three months, she had to show him what she had sold. She’s been designing full time ever since.
“I used to get bored of everything. I used to get bored of every work that I had and I really didn’t know what I wanted to study or what I wanted to do. When I found jewellery it was like coming home. I never get bored because I can do whatever I want and it always changes. It changes with me.”
All of Natalia’s work is done in studio, by hand. As designer and craftswoman behind every piece in her collections, she makes everything from scratch, from melting metals, to creating custom wires, to welding and setting stones.
Jewellery design entails complimenting both the materials making up the jewellery and the wearer. Natalia achieves this through her designs, creating a raw and beautiful aesthetic, bringing out the beauty of the texture of metals, as well as semi-precious stones, conscientiously sourced. “I do my best to know where things come from. I try to get the stones from people that I know. I have a friend that travels to Brazil twice a year, and then when I go to Costa Rica I buy some. The pearls, they come from Japan. I know a girl who’s sister has a farm.”
Applying what she learned at the workshop in England, Natalia recently designed an enamelware collection of vessels and spoons. Each item is handcrafted and has its own colour, texture and form, which makes each piece unique to the home it ends up in. Her jewellery holds the same, unique-to-its-owner quality.
While her focus has shifted to enamelware and commercial jewellery, her jewellery is a mix of commercial and contemporary designs. Her approach to design is different for both. When it comes to the contemporary line, she says that it starts with a concept; a thought or a feeling. It is a much more impulsive and artistic approach to making that depends on how she is feeling. When it comes to designing for the commercial line, she focuses more on wearability. When she’s working on commercial jewellery, she always tells friends, “If I finish a piece and don’t want to take it off, it’s a good sign.”
Natalia is currently moving her atelier to showcase her designs in a new workshop and studio storefront in Valencia, Spain. To keep up to date with the opening, follow her on Instagram.
In the meantime, discover more of her work on her Etsy shop.
For more on entrepreneurship, travel, fashion, and mindset, join the Nomade at @nomadeandmode
Yay, you’re up and running!
Girl, the look and feel, the way you write about these different topics is amazing! I’m so proud of you for persisting and relaunching your blog 🙂
Mariam
http://www.baublestories.com
Awe, thank you so much Mariam! xx 🙂