It’s a dream of ours to be able to make a living from our jewelry so we like to support other artisans and craftspeople who are living their dream. Handmade goods tell a story and they carry the energy of the person (or people) that made them.
Catie Atkinson and Alexis Flores
Random Facts About You?1. When not creating jewelry, we enjoy skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, and extreme unicycling!
2. We backpacked around South America for 5 years before moving back to the U.S. and are planning a cross country Peruvian road trip for the winter of 2011.
3. Alexis actually does love liver and onions (Catie is not a fan.) We have also eaten iguana, guinea pig, llama, and piranha while traveling.
4. Our son Tai is the light of our lives and hopefully our future backpacking partner.
What got you started crafting?
We learned the art of macrame while traveling in Peru seven years ago and began selling our jewelry on the sidewalks in order to fund our adventures. There is an an incredible community of traveling artisans in Peru and they shared their knowledge and experience with us. Eventually we became more comfortable in our own skills and started experimenting to create our own signature style.
What is your source of inspiration?
We are inspired by our travels, the places we see and the people we meet along the way. While we are no longer living a nomadic, backpacking life, we're lucky to be able to spend 3-4 months out of the year traveling. We find ourselves constantly inspired by nature and the incredible colors and designs present in the natural world. We try to capture the beauty of the places we've been by incorporating natural elements into our work.
What have you made recently?
Now that we have a baby, we don't have as much time for creating jewelry, but we still try to squeeze it in whenever possible. One of the most recent pieces we've made is a broad bib necklace with hanging shells (picture included) in colors similar to a traditional Peruvian poncho. This bib style necklace is one that we've been experimenting with a lot lately. For most of our pieces, we begin with a stone and work our way out, knotting and braiding around the stone to form a necklace or bracelet. With this piece, however, we began by creating a broad macrame background, or canvas, and highlighted it with hanging shells. We love experimenting with new styles and designs to keep our work fresh and exciting!
Where do you sell your crafts presently?
Our backpacking, sidewalk selling days are behind us (for now, at least) so our main venue is Etsy.com.
Why are handmade crafts important to you?
It's a dream of ours to be able to make a living from our jewelry so we like to support other artisans and craftspeople who are living their dream. Handmade goods tell a story and they carry the energy of the person (or people) that made them. We believe that our experience is captured in each of the pieces we make and in that way, we share our journey with others. I buy handmade goods for the same reason...to share someone's story.
Find Me
LocationSanta Fe, NM and Peru
Email Address
Catie Atkinson and Alexis Flores
Personal Website
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GitanaMama
Store Website
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GitanaMama
HANDMADE