Mexican jewelry is very fashionable and designers like Ariel Rojo, Hector Esrawe, Ezequiel Farca and several others have rescued the “Mexicanidad” without falling into typical Mexican stereotypes and clichés. They have achieved a quantum leap with designs covering all kinds of everyday objects such as wine openers, street furniture and silverware (art style objects, ornaments or utensils made from precious metals).
Few designers have made it big, such as the case of Daniel Espinosa and Paola Van Der Hulst who make jewelry at a professional level—proving progress needs to be made.
Currently, people from both U.S. and Mexico appreciate a more contemporary design in jewelry—even though the culture of goldsmithing in Mexico has existed since the pre-Columbian days and is famous for its quality products and artisans.
“Metalwork is the art of styling objects, either ornaments or utensils made from precious metals or alloys,” said designer Ale Bremer.
Bremer, who is Mexican by birth, enrolled at the UTEP in 2002 to study design and shortly after received a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Metals. From then on, she began working on developing her own style. Designers such as Antonio Pineda, William Spratling and Arthur Smith inspired her work but her primary muse came from her grandfather who was a metallurgy engineer and the primary reason she made the decision to study metals.
Bremer’s designs reflect an appreciation of Mexicanidad. A subtle example of this varies from a bracelet called Papel Picado, necklaces called Suerte o Muerte and Santa Eulalia, along with rings called Rivera which honor the Mexican muralist and Santo which honors the legendary luchador.
Her entire repertoire does not solely reflect Mexican roots, in her line of necklaces and rings titled Caramel Popcorn, she uses popcorn and covers it with her favorite materials—gold and silver. Bremer is also known to use other materials such as platinum and brass.
“My Mexican heritage has enriched every aspect of my work. The unique colors, textures, flavors and warmth of the Mexican culture are traits that I celebrate in my work and have enabled the creation of pieces that mean something and have something to say,” said Bremer.
Bremer lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She is creative director at Jill Platner who is very famous for their jewelry. Bremer’s jewelry designs have a playfulness that characterizes Mexicans yet they are forward-looking and ignore typical Mexican traditional jewelry. They delve into cutting-edge designs that keep up with the new trend in Mexico.
TEXT: RAFAEL REVILLA
