Designer Profile – Gabriel Anaya Barba
As I walk out of the midday heat into the cool portico I’m immediately bathed in the calm of the courtyard. The entrance faces onto a winding cobbled street barely wide enough for the vintage Volkswagens that grind their way up the steep slope, from the outside it appears as any one of the other hundred houses I have passed save for the small tin sign reading “Joyeria” nailed to the door.
In the corner of the courtyard, under the shade of a light cotton hanging sits a middle aged man, he leans over a work bench on which he is expertly cutting intricate patterns into a sheet of silver. He looks up and greets me in Spanish then returns to his work as a younger woman who I assume is his daughter comes from a side room to greet me. The man in the corner is Gabriel Anaya Barba and like many of the finest silver smiths in Mexico, he is the 5th generation of his family to have learned his trade at his parent’s knee.
Gabriel and his family have lived and made jewellery in Guanajuato for more than 100 years. His designs are drawn from the rich natural and cultural symbols of the rugged countryside of ‘La Sierra Gorda’. Each hand made piece is wrought in locally mined sterling silver. I had a fantastic time in the workshop of Gabriel Anaya Barba and I am so pleased to add his range to our collection of original Mexican designs at The Family Jewels .
Wish you were here…
Kane
http://www.thefamilyjewels.com.au/catalog.aspx?catalog=Shop&category=Silverado
