Tis•tiK: Artisan Jewelry Accessories Store, Harvard Square Cambridge

	Amada Diaz Amada Diaz innovated the market 25 years ago when she first introduced for the first time a line of handcrafted products and ornaments made with seeds. This unique way of working with seeds has been her signature ever since then. "The seeds I choose are by themselves a masterpiece and they inspire the deepest respect for nature. They create the most original and beautiful designs and bring a feeling of peace and serenity to any place"
	Servando Dominguez Servando and Glass have a long history together. He used to work at a factory in Mexico city that made glass ware using traditional Mexican techniques. He says his inspiration to make new things comes out of necessity. While still at the factory, one day he needed a gift for his girlfriend and thought of inserting a leftover piece of blown glass in a ring that a friend made especially for the piece. The result was beautiful! He learned from his friend the basics of jewelry making at first only with the purpose of inserting pieces of glass in them but then fell in love with jewelry making and discovered other ways to make great pieces like using Crystals to make cocktail rings and beautiful pendants and earrings.
	Estela Corona Art is Estela's passion. She is a painter, and a great artist. Born in Monterrey, Mexico, she earned an Art degree from University of Mexico's National School for Plastic Arts. She moved to Taxco in 1985 and opened a small school aimed at teaching art to children. She has been teaching kids ever since. She specializes in making jewelry with wood. "I make this jewelry because I admire the uniqueness of wood: every single bead is different, every single one has its own color, its own shine and shape. I want people to wear it so that others can see how beautiful this is, so I make it into jewelry that others can admire" she explains. When asked what inspires her, she says Nature and of course her two favorite painters: Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo.
	Jesus Quaas He was born on July 2nd, 1972 in Taxco, Mexico. He studied at the National University of Mexico's school for Plastic Arts the art of Jewelry Making. He has been designing and making jewelry since 1998. This line is made entirely by hand by him, and it is made with blown glass beads and Silver plated wire. It is inspired by his wife: Monica.
	Yadira Flores Majul Although Yadi has a bachelor's degree in architecture and interior design, she also has over 9 years of experience in jewelry designing and making. In every new piece she makes, she tries to use a wide variety of materials and techniques and only makes a limited number of them. She currently has a small store that her husband Roberto runs where they sell Yadi's designs. When asked about her inspiration, she says that she tries to make sure that all of her customers end up with a smile in their face, so she creates high quality products with great design at affordable prices.
	Deysi Arreortua Deysi Arreortua was born in Oaxaca city and earned a degree in Design Engineering at the Mixteca Technological University. Due to her passion and love for art, she founded Tutü HandbaGs, an enterprise that makes handbags inspired in the Mexican folklore that combine modern elements such as colorful fabrics and traditional ones like the synthetic fabrics used in the bags so widely used in Mexico to go to the Market. Deysi is currently working with Oaxacan artisans who live in very remote communities that do not have an opportunity to showcase their talent. By mixing their talent and hers, she is able to create eye catching bags that she hopes will grab people's attention and interest.
	Pavel Perez To make this modern looking wire pieces, Pavel uses pure silver .999. He says he needs the metal to be ultra flexible so that he can twist the wires in "interesting and complex looking" pieces. Pavel works with his sister Lily who helps him with the feminine point of view about his pieces. He says that what he enjoys most about making jewelry is that with his style, he is never able to make two things that look exactly the same. "With the wire, it's like every piece comes out differently… and that's the fun part" he declares
	Recycled Handbags These hand-bags are made by the inmates at a Jail in Taxco, Mexico who are currently serving a sentence. By making and selling these products for which they are paid fairly they are able to legally contribute with some money to their households even though they are not able to have a job. Each hand-bag is made with used notebook paper and from old books and covered with candy wrappers that make them look colorful and that would end up in the trashcan otherwise.
	Maria Teresa Gonzalez Tere was born on June 5th and went to live in Taxco at age 11. It was in Taxco where she first fell in love with jewelry. At age 15, she enrolled at the National University of Mexico's school of Plastic Arts and studied the art of making jewelry. Motivated by creativity, she pursued a career in Industrial Design where she learned and worked in different areas of design from furniture, interior design, shoes, ceramics, theatrical staging, teaching, and of course jewelry. Designing for Tere is an opportunity to satisfy her passion. She believes that "design brings dreams and imagination to reality to be enjoyed and to provoke happiness."
	Timo Hernandez Timo's father worked at William Spratling's workshop all of his life, and he taught his son Timo the art of high quality jewelry making. William Spratling's workshop and workers are long gone, and Timo remains as one of the few that still have that craftsmanship that characterized Spratling's designs. He likes to call his designs "old and new". His "old designs" use pre-hispanic motifs and the "new designs," well they are just very modern he says. Timo currently lives in Taxco, Mexico and owns his own workshop where he also teaches his son the art of jewelry making hoping that his father's talent will not be lost.
	Victor Hugo Ortiz Gold Filigree jewelry is the traditional accessory worn by native Indian women from Oaxaca. Victor, who is originally from Oaxaca learned from his father at an early age how to do this traditional technique, but decided to innovate and instead of using gold, he started using silver to give a modern look to something that is so traditional. To make the earrings, Victor has to curl very delicate and thin silver wire into small circles or other designs, and then arrange them inside the earring to finally unite them by soldering with a blowpipe. To give the bracelets the filigree look, he hand-carves every single one of them, and even though he has done many of these bracelets, he says that he's never seen two identical, they all end up looking different.
	Julisa Ortiz and Diego Figueroa Julisa and Diego come from families that for years have been dedicated to commercializing beautiful pieces of jewelry. They created their own company in 2004 with the goal of making artisanal jewelry pieces that combine sterling silver and the rich textures of natural stones and colorful fresh water pearls. "We are a newly wed couple and we both get our inspiration for designing jewelry from the mutual love and admiration that we have for each other."
	The Vidri Arte Project By Fernando Montana "The ultimate goal is to provide a place to live for people with disabilities (or different abilities as we prefer to call them) and extreme necessity. In this place they will receive an education, values and a job. Through the sale of their work we are expecting to make this project self-sustainable, 'Do not give them fish but teach them how to fish' thus, making the job the key aspect in their training. We have started this glass workshop where we make mirrors, picture frames, bowls, lamps, etc from colored pieces of glass as the first step for this project; as the business that will help us achieve the ultimate goal. In this first phase we have hired deaf people, we have taught them how to make the products and they are being paid fairly for their work in addition to all the benefits required by the Mexican law, bonuses, incentives and rewards. We have also hired pregnant women living at the 'Vida y Familia AC' shelter who are living there due to different reasons: rape, abandonment, domestic violence, etc. They are living at the shelter and it is impossible for them to leave it because of security reasons, so they work from there making products for VidriArte thus being able to earn some money that will help them with different expenses when their baby is born. Our goal is very simple: to be happy. For our workers our objective is to educate them, make of them well-rounded people with integrity, aptitudes, skills and values making it easy for them to integrate into society so that they can contribute to their personal development, and the development of their community, their city and their country."