Many of you know already that I’ve been designing jewelry www.helenavoigt.com for quite a while now.

Most of my creations come to life in Luque,  I’m blessed to work with skilled artisans from Luque.

In Luque you will find one jewelry store after another on the main road in front of the Church, you will find from very fancy Hollywood like stores to very humble that barely have a display to show their handmade jewelry.

Luque is known by its jewelry specially its handmade Filigree or Filigrana is Spanish, that consists in very thin silver threads of sterling silver or gold twisted and soldered together to create beautiful pieces of art.

I get my stones LARIMAR from the Dominican Republic, they are only found there, in no other place in the world, and they have also many properties for the body and soul, it is a really gorgeous stone, light blue, with interesting patterns.

First I have to get the stones from the Dominican Republic, then I send the stones to Paraguay they work on the pieces and send me the finished pieces back to sell, all pieces are unique and one of a kind, truly pieces of art. I send my designs to my friend Adri and she prints them out and takes them to Don Florentin so he can start working on them.

Sometimes artisan work is not perfect, they never or almost never finish the pieces by the deadline, you have to repeat 100 of times a thing so they won’t forget it, and it is a headache to deal with them… but at the end is all worthy because the pieces are just wonderful!!!

It all started this way:

A friend of mine told me about Don Florentin I called him and we met at my place, he told me he understood my ideas and waited for me at this workshop in Luque, when I arrived there I was not surprised to see a humble and simple house where he had set up his workshop it was half block from the main avenue, it was not a jewelry store, it was just a part of his house he uses with 2 or employees who work with him.

They were drinking terere and laughing when I arrived to see the first part of the production, It was awesome to see them working, laughing and drinking terere…that is Paraguay, few about money and more about enjoying every minute of every day of your life.

This is the first time that they do this kind of jewelry, a combination of filigree and Larimar and these models are exclusive, i think with my creativity and his talent we certainty make a great team.

I’m glad to share this with you since I consider my readers and friends my family and it is nice to share and show what wonderful pieces they are making in Paraguay.

 

L

Luque church, photo taken by a  dear friend Luis Rodriguez. Thanks Luis! Those trees are Lapachos also known as Pau d’arco with many curative properties.

 

  

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