The beaches of Cancun and Cabo are just a few of the attractions in Mexico. For the historybuff Mexico also offers theNational Museum of Anthropologythat holds artifacts from Mayan and Aztec civilizations. Mexico is also home to featured jewelry designer .The daughter of clothing designer Tachi Castillo and the niece of uncles who studied under renowned American silversmith William Spratling, Castillo’s advent into jewelry design was essentially a no-brainer.Her alternately whimsical and romantic sterling silver jewelry, as well as her luminous gemstone jewelry pieces, is a testament to her superlative metalsmithing and lapidary skills.A keen observer of nature, Castillo implements sea creatures, frogs, dragonflies, sunflowers, and Monarch butterflies as focal points of her modern silver jewelry. She rounds out the array of iconography with classic cross and heart necklaces.Her Pearl Heart Necklace is a great example of how a slightly skewered outline offset with tiny, perforated holes on the surface of the heart pendant adds fantastic idiosyncrasy to an otherwise clear-cut symbol.Her gemstone necklaces, cuff bracelets, and silver rings highlight the subdued tones of smooth faceted gemstones like carnelian, Mexican Zebra Jasper, tiger’s eye, and pink rose quartz.“I began to design jewelry about the time I was at university studying fashion marketing,” she says. “I have been close to this wonderful craft all my life and I have always tried to be at the vanguard of fashion with original top quality products.I work in all silver crafting techniques starting with the melting of granules and continuing with laminates, lost wax, etc.After adding fine details by hand we set the gems, if required, to create the final design. Each one is crafted with a lot of love.”
