Handmade Copper Collar Necklace from Mexico, "Feminine Fantasy"

Update (July, 2019)

We are a married couple that, with your help, has grown in a way we never imagined. We are enthusiasts of the beautiful copper tradition of Santa Clara del Cobre in the state of Michoacan.

We are very happy to work with you. You've allowed us to grow and generate a stronger income. But, more than anything, we are thankful for the diffusion of our craft that it allows us to achieve. During this marvelous year, our sales have allowed us to fulfill our dream of working with our birthright handicraft with strength and security.

We are the fifth generation to work by hand with copper, which allows us to craft designs for daily use. Copper lets us play with its nature without altering its composition.

We have worked with dedication thanks to the help and support of each one of our artisans in a way that feels like a warm family. Each one of us works together to achieve quality work.

Playing with different copper crafting techniques has made this journey fun. We carry on passionately with our work as we extend our collection.

We are very thankful for all of you. We are a family that promotes tradition, history, and art.

Original Artisan Story

I'm Rosa Ivette Gonzales and I grew up in a family with the wonderful tradition of copper work. It was all thanks to my grandfather, Francisco Paz Zanabria, who began this fascinating art of designing and crafting objects in copper. He taught my parents. They taught me and I taught my husband, Daniel Gonzales, and this art has become the heart of my extended family. In every family get-together, copper is always a topic of conversation.

This precious work that implements copper as a metal of common use originated with the arrival of Don Vasco de Quiroga. He gained the affection of the native Purépecha people, thanks to his good works and the economic means that he promoted. These benefited the Purépecha. After the conquest, 'Tata' Vasco's kind and affectionate treatment of the Purépecha was noted throughout colonial Mexico.

He moved the Bishop's offices from Tzintzuntzan to Pátzcuaro and founded the hospital town of Santa Fe de la Laguna. He also established the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo, the precursor of the Universidad Nicolaíta that still exists in Mexico's Michoacán state.

What I love best about copper is its simplicity and how it lets you transform it into whatever you want. I love the color — it's indescribable.

My main inspiration comes from nature and its many tonalities.

In each of our copper designs, I want to share the awareness that you're holding a piece of history in your hands. In colonial Mexico, it was one of the most widely used metals, and we even had copper coins. It is a great transmitter of heat in cookware and is also an excellent conductor of energy. But we have only a few copper mines in Mexico, so we often recycle the metal.

I love to focus on the design of each piece that we craft, especially the jewelry. Each detail makes the design look very special.

We want to share our fascination with copper and the meaning it has for us. We want our designs to be known and, in this way, encourage a way for families to share their likes, their passions, their experiences and to learn from the good and bad moments. We want to show a means of inspiration.

My desire is to convey my enormous delight in copper art and the ancestral traditions we are fortunate to have.