Spotlight: Unique Mexican Designs, Mizpah Q&A “La creación es obra del amor”
Carla and Rodrigo started designing jewlery in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato where they met a few years ago. He has 20+ years of experience crafting jewelry and Carla has been in the business for 8. Their unique Mexican designs reflect the sensibilities of their local population and their collections change and evolve as they travel and visit other places but their full time jobs are being parents.
TELL US ABOUT MIZPAH
Mizpah carries classic contemporary designs with a modern touch. Every piece is unique as we do not use any molds and everything is handmade in our workshop at home. We like to picture the design in our heads and create along the way. Sometimes it doesnt turn out the way we envisioned, but oftentimes the finished result is even better.
WHAT DOES MIZPAH MEAN? Mizpah is the heart you see in halves so one person has one side and the other completes it with the other. This goes hand in hand with the actual meaning.
WHAT PLACES HAVE YOU LIVED IN THAT INSPIRE YOUR ART?
We started in San Miguel de Allende where we met, followed by Tasco where we continued in our plastic arts school and then moved to Tlayacapan, Maninalco, Playa del Carmen, Cumal and now we are in Cabo :)
WHAT MATERIALS DO YOU USE?
We work with semi precious stones and 950 mexican silver. This means that from 1kg, 950g are silver and 50g copper, this way the jewelry becomes more resistant to tarnishing (regular sterling silver has 925g of silver and 75g of copper). Copper is added so the shape stays hard as pure silver will not maintain it's shapes it is malleable and could easily bend. The stones we use the most are amatists, moonstones and labradorite.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR MATERIALS FROM?
Our opal and ambar are mexican, but we have friends that go to india to handpick other stones that are sent from all over the world. Some others are from stone fairs in the US.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE STONES?
C: I like moldavite for its natural and original essence.
R: Mine are opal and amber, for the colors, forms, and insect pieces.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A PIECE? WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO MAKE/DESIGN?
A ring can take an entire day to make or if we do more than one at a time we can make 7 to 15 pieces, there are different steps that take some time so sometimes it is better to multitask.
Carla’s favorite: Earrings
Rodrigo’s favorite: Rings
ANY FACTS YOU WANT TO SHARE? :)
C: I’m 28 and prefer the day over the night and the beach over bars. We also work upon request with gold, special sizes and custom made pieces.
R: I’m 45, I enjoy going on hikes or to the waterfalls close to town, I really enjoy nature and scuptures. I would also consider both of us very homey