The Craziest Story of How Our Jewelry Shop Came to Be!

Since the day we met, Gianluca and I knew that we wanted to travel the world together. So that's what we did. 

We started in Thailand, then traveled to Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia. In the airport, we met a wonderful group of musicians who informed us that they were going to the Rainbow Festival and invited us to join them. As we were in our "YOLO" phase, we obviously said yes. So after a sleepless night, an interminable bus journey, and a long hike, there we were, in a banana plantation, somewhere on the island of Java, surrounded by wonderful, extravagant people from all over the world. 

That's where I found a lovely, patient Argentinian girl who taught me how to make macramé. So I started braiding every thread I could find into trinkets to wear myself and put on Gianluca (obviously). I filled my hair with colorful macramé hair wraps that I was very proud of. 

One day, while surfing in Bali, a girl noticed my hair wraps and told me that she would also love one. So the next day we met up on the beach, and I braided her hair. Before long, I had a line of people who also wanted a hair wrap. That's when I discovered, for the first time, that something I made could actually be a mean of subsistence. Well, at the time, it only afforded us a couple of beers, but at least it let our imagination run wild. 

In New Zealand, we participated in local markets, and in Mexico, we managed to live off the jewelry we sold during sunset on Zicatela Beach. It was a wonderful time, we met such amazing people, made a lot of friends, and got inspired by different cultures. 

I always loved making jewelry and seeing the happiness on people's faces when they wore it, but I never believed that it could be an actual job. Until we moved to Barcelona, I started studying graphic design at a local university, and the pandemic of COVID-19 hit. We were quite desperate, because of my documents, I wasn't able to get a job, and living off of one salary is very hard in a city like Barcelona. Out of desperation, I opened a shop on Etsy and timidly published a couple of products. After a couple of weeks, my first necklace on Etsy sold. I was ecstatic. 

I won't pretend that it was a fairy tale in which my products magically started selling, and we all lived happily ever after. It was a long and hard process. The first year, I sold very few products (which I was very happy about anyway). I still clearly remember how I told my mom that I hoped it could be my side job and bring me in a few extra euros every month. Here we are, four years later, and not only my shop is sustaining me and Gianluca but also five wonderful artisans. I couldn't be more proud and grateful for this incredible journey and for the support received by all of you along the way. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.