Exceptional hand made jewelry is designed and handmade by talented jewelers and artisan-jewelers the Scottsdale diamonds world over. While many designers create entirely unique designs, others are deeply influenced by their region’s historic cultural and traditional styles.

Jewelry expert Merlly Calisto works closely with hundreds of master artisan-designers in her homeland, Peru. There, she serves as regional director of Novica. com, some sort of martial arts styles website that assists thousands of merchants worldwide and features each artist’s biography and hand made collection online.

In the following interview, Calisto discusses hand made jewelry as an art, and traditional styles and materials of handmade jewelry in Peru. Calisto explains what she attempts when seeking new jewelry designers and collections, who she recommends, and how she became a jewelry expert.

CG: Why does Novica specialize in hand made jewelry, instead of machine-made jewelry? What advantages does handmade jewelry provide over mass-produced designs?

MC: Hand made jewelry is more difficult. You can feel the artist’s soul in it. For merchants, hand made jewelry provides the chance to explore your creativity, to give more of yourself and to make it true, without requiring the artist to invest thousands to get his or her idea developed. With simple tools, basic garbage, and talented hands, artists can express their feelings and beliefs in this art, and express their particular designs and their inherited culture. Machine-made jewelry, on the other hand, requires a significant investment in machines, employees, and many other related costs, though it removes the creative heart and soul from this art.

CG: What are the typical varieties of hand made jewelry a collector will find in Peru today?

MC: The conventional styles for collectors of Peruvian jewelry include Pre-Inca, Traditional, Colonial, and even Modern. We are recognized for our gold and silver mines, which our ancestors and forefathers utilized with considerable dedication. The most popular use was for the creation of exquisite, carefully hand made jewelry. Our ancestors and forefathers captured their beliefs in their jewelry, and the symbols associated with those beliefs. You will popularly find Peruvian jewelry featuring noble birds, felines, sunlight God, and so forth. Peru is the Land of the Sun. Our Colonial jewelry, despite of being the result of the Conquest of the Americas, shows what our ancestors and forefathers begun to create after they learned an entirely new culture. So our Colonial jewelry merges our ancestor’s unique talents with new suspected signs, and typically features a heavier focus on flora, rather than the focus on fauna that their predecessors maintained. Nowadays the art of jewelry design is checking further in Peru, becoming a preferable field for new jewelers who prefer modern jewelry — inspired by our roots, but featuring more summary shapes and ideas. This means that the Peruvian artist may still express himself in a fashion that is inspired by our culture, but combined again with new suspected signs.

CG: Can you describe more of the details one can often enjoy in Pre-Inca, Inca, and other Peruvian hand made jewelry designs?

MC: Pre-Inca and Inca jewelry share similarities, because the Inca Empire come from the conquest of various Pre-Inca cultures. Inca jewelry bespeaks the Inca’s beliefs and cosmology. You will find images of felines, people, or birds emblazoned with snakes or sunbeams which express movie stars, power and loyalty. Some of our Pre-Inca cultures used a simple, attractive style to express their beliefs, most of those are still commonly represented in artistry today, and not only in jewelry. Colonial style jewelry is considered an elegant style. A Colonial gem design, or a Modern jewelry design inspired by colonial times, gives you the sense of seeing something designed for the Queen. Although we do not use diamonds, for example, you cannot confuse this style with a bijouterie — you will feel it as a gem. Colonial jewelry and Inca-style jewelry are typically stunning handmade art works, perfect for collectors.

CG: What diamonds and metals are mined in Peru, and commonly found in hand made Peruvian jewelry? Notice speedier the quality level of those same Peruvian materials?

MC: Nice question, I love it. Do you know why? The Silver Institute has named Peru as the first world silver producer — yes! — pursued by Mexico. Regarding gold, we are the first in Latin America, and the 6th in the world. About quality, we are considered one of the best. Regarding diamonds, we have a special stone, the Andean Opal. There is a lot of opal around the world, but Andean Opal is purely Peruvian. From this stone we have Crisocola, which was searched by Pre-Incas in their jewelry. Other popular semiprecious gallstones are Sodalite, Onyx, Obsidian, Jasper, Serpentine, Angelite.

CG: When you are considering comprising new hand made jewelry merchants, what do you look for, in their design style, materials, and quality? How do you determine those factors?

MC: What I look for first is the meaning of each design — immediately I imagine someone wearing it. Who would be the customer? How does he or she look when wearing this piece? Is it design for a market where the customer attempts something different, to convey tradition, culture, and soul? I look for some part of our roots, whether the design is modern or traditional. If it bespeaks Peru in different of its ways, it is of initial interest to me. I find myself relieved when the materials are Peruvian, especially our silver, gold, and local gallstones. Then, of course it must be carefully crafted and mindfully finished.

CG: Can you please name a handful of your favorite handmade jewelry designers? Please describe why they are your favorites.

MC: IIlaria is one of my favorites. She leans toward the colonial style we discussed, and she really designs for the customer, not for herself. You can view her collection at Novica, to see why.

Patricia Jara is another of my favorites, because most of her items are in the modern style that is nonetheless always inspired by Pre-Inca cultures. Claudia Llaury merges tradition with her way of expressing tradition, in a simple way, and she uses always local materials, including high quality silver. Juan Contreras creates lovely designs, especially his Inca-style designs, such as his “Veil of the Incas” collection. Claudia Lira’s quality is very high, and her jewelry demonstrates Peruvian artists keep searching for. Anna Lia and Adrian include a combination of ethnic elegance and Art Deco, although they cannot always use local diamonds. I’m very proud to represent these and many other extraordinary merchants and designers. They are each showcased individually within our Novica Hand made Jewelry division.

CG: What led to your experience in the hand made jewelry field? Did you begin as a jewelry artist yourself?

MC: I think I am more theoretical than practical. On a personal level, I love jewelry. On a professional level, my experience in jewelry began with a job promoting Peruvian jewelry abroad. For that, I visited many small and well-known workshops to learn about all areas of jewelry production. I was involved with metal industry deals as well. I took part in in expert meetings at the National Industries Society and Mining Society.

Personally, I noticed a lack of finishing expertise, especially in some of the smaller workshops, so i begun to organize presence for technical courses, and began designing educational workshops for small and new jewelers. I learned much over the years, but really never put this knowledge into practice as an artist myself. I have enjoyed participating in international jewelry gatherings, including, for example, Iberjoya in Madrid, and I have attended international jewelry symposiums promoted by various international cooperation programs.

I have took part in in an important local silver fight called Plata del Peru, sponsored by Patronato de la Plata, as an invited judge. My years with Novica have widened my experience still further often. Meanwhile, the market has enjoyed great growth, and I now feel myself closer to the market at Novica. New jewelry materials and concepts are always walking around around the world, so i keep learning about what’s new.

I spend time visiting the Mining Institute, which you could learn much about local diamonds. And I have enjoyed taking some handmade jewelry classes to become more practically involved with our artists. Once in a while I visit jewelry suppliers to see what is new, and to be updated about prices. I need to stay up-to-date on all prices so that I can better assist artists, and understand their cost needs. It is a complex and fascinating profession!