Even the grandchildren in the Salgado Téllez workshop know how to create jewelry by hand.
“I’ve been doing this work for 50 years now, and every day I like it more,” Arturo Salgado said as he deftly curled pieces of silver wire into spiral designs.
Maestro Arturo, as he is often called, started making filigree as a teenager and now, at 67, works alongside his wife, Martha Téllez, their three daughters and sometimes a grandchild or two. Using needle-nose pliers and other simple tools, they make intricately detailed jewelry by hand.
The workshop for the family business, Antiguas Maravillas (in English, Ancient Wonders), is set up to show visitors the artisanal process of turning raw silver grain into earrings and necklaces for sale.
A few miles from downtown Oaxaca, the capital of the southern Mexican state of the same name, the workshop occupies the front of the couple’s home. Each of the Salgado Téllez daughters — Donají, 45; Rubí, 41; and Yesenia, 38 — has her own house on the property, and they all share a shady patio.
Being able to live “together, but not on top of each other” keeps the family united and makes it easier to share ideas and make joint decisions, Donají said.
The work that is their livelihood requires patience, concentration and a sense of calm, the family patriarch said, adding that it is important to enjoy it because it is so time consuming. An elaborate pair of earrings, for example, may have more than 100 components and take three or more days to make, he said, although the artisans often put together several pieces at once.
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