Savoir Faire

Tell us about your studio’s practices - what do you do ?

I design jewerlry often inspired by my environment, including food from where the name of BombomBijoux, or other elements in my life to add to the meaningfulness of the piece to both the owner/wearer and me. The jewelry I make is mostly make with only hand techniques which don’t use any energy and other resources, which is much better for our environment and what we pass on to the future. 

The pieces I create dont look the same, either they are unique pieces or the stones are natural in different shades and shapes. This is thanks to the choice of materials, upcycled or natural rough stones. The idea is that you won’t have to worry about seeing someone else wearing the exact same piece of jewelry that you own. You will also be able to find much more intricate designs that show the true artisanship behind each piece.

My Favorite Project

I will like to present the project that got me to be make a living out of my hobby without any formal training. I arrived to Switzerland not speaking the language and thought it was going to be easy with my Business Administration Diploma and Swiss citizenship. It was not easy, but I did not give up. One day I found and online job post asking for someone to help with some wire work. I had never don’t jewelry on a professional setting, but I had all my tools with me and off cours my love for it. I send my CV with a an email and I did not hear anything from them in a month, so I wrote back asking if they have received my email, so they replied that I can come to an interview in a week with a collection of nine pieces to go with with the brand style. I accepted, without knowing that it was almost impossible to find any jewelry findings in Geneva at that moment. I asked around and people pointed out to the flea market in Plainpalais, only problem the market was on Saturday and my interview on Tuesday and my budget was limited. On Tuesday, I showed up with my nine pieces collection to the interview, it was all normal until, I unpacked my collection from my china made jewelry holder bought at the market too. The owner and brand manager looked at each other with not words, I thought, it is really bad, and I couldn’t hold myself and asked, they said: Ana not, it is really good, we were not expecting this, we told you to do it, because we thought you will never make it and we did not wanted to tell you not, because we did not wanted to hurt your feelings, because you were so motivated. Since then I love making pieces out of things I find in the market, or clients broken or old pieces. The process is not so easy, or quick, but the pieces are always unique and a people stopper on any presentation. They are off course produce with less, locally, and the supply chain is basically what you have, with techniques only using my hands. I co create this with each client. I have also collaborated with Geneva influencers to create some special collections over time. 

LEGACY

Legacy is usually always thought like something really hard and complicated to achieve. If you had asked me a couple of years ago I will had probably tell you that I will had die trying, before I can leave any legacy on this world. I had also tell you that my grand father, who die, before I was born, left me nothing. We all think that leaving a legacy must be complicated and even worst an urgent legacy, but let me tell you the story behind this project. My dad taught me to make the knots that I use when I make jewelry, he learned from my grandfather who learned, because he was a boyscout, so my dad was also a boyscout and volunteer fireman and this is how he knew this. In my hometown, Guayaramerin, Beni, Bolivia, there were not boyscouts, so I started using my knots acknowledge with colored pasta, then to phone cables, bird feathers, to plastic beads, to crystals and now semiprecious stones. My tools where usually my dad fixing the car tool’s, until not too long my favorite tools brand was craftsmans. The day I got my first job as a jewelry designer, I cried. I was working on a really beautiful place in Carouge, with lunch breaks, and tea breaks, and being pay to watch fashion shows and go to parties after work all thanks to the legacy my grandfather left me, knots acknowledge. This project leaves my legacy on each person that buys my jewelry and the legacy of each person when we designed together.

How is your project ecologically, socially and/or economically sustainable?

It is ecologically in the side that most of our materials are recycled and all hand made, so no use of electricity or hazard trash that can contaminated. It is socially sustainable in the sense, it please anyone and I can work with a big range of people thanks to being Swiss, born in Bolivia, raised in the states, speaking English, Spanish, French and Portuguese . It is economically sustainable, because if we ever get to grow to the point that I can not be doing all the pieces, we can always train people to do it and grow, without stoping being ecologically sustainable and overworking employees.