cool beads

Combining white, soft pink, grey, purple and black, Mexican artisan Adriana Trejo assembles petite glass beads to create this pair of dangle earrings. They swing from a sterling silver hooks.

Rewrite the rules of style with this chic hematite stretch bracelet from Taxco artisan Angel Ortiz. Featuring a modern sterling silver heart pendant and a gleaming sterling bead accent at the back, this contemporary design will be your go-to favorite as it effortlessly transitions from day to night.

Designed and crafted by Rosa Rojo in Mexico, these beaded gemstone earrings are intriguing. The artisan combines assorted beads of cool, watery fluorite with tiny faceted hematite stones. The earrings swing from sterling silver posts.

Working in the tradition of Huichol artistry, Mexican artisan Adriana Trejo creates this cool pendant necklace. She strings petite glass beads by hand to create a circular pendant with a beaded waterfall that dangles below, featuring colors of blue, white, and black.

Thought to be a calming, soothing stone, cool amazonite is showcased in these earrings from Mexico's Rosa Rojo. Assorted beads of the aqua-hued gem are suspended from gleaming sterling silver posts.

Strands of tiny glass beads flow like a shimmering waterfall, framing a striking Turkish eye motif at the core. Mexico’s Adriana Trejo assembles each bead by hand, blending cool teal with bold accents to create a captivating contrast. Suspended from shiny sterling silver hooks, these waterfall earrings bring movement and color to any look.

It takes extremely talented hands to transform gemstones and beads into true works of jewelry art. Ana Mirez shows her skill with this dazzling necklace, creating an ornate chrysocolla sunburst pendant. The Mexican artist presents it on a strand of chrysocolla, black agate and colorful seed beads.

Inspired by ancient mythology, artisan Monserrat Dominguez in Mexico creates this unique pendant bracelet. She names her original creation 'Aine', after the Irish goddess of summer and the sun (the name translates to "radiance"). The bracelet features a round hand-crocheted pendant in parchment, flanked by strands of glass beads and 14k gold-plated beads.

Inspired by Greek mythology, artisan Monserrat Dominguez in Mexico creates this unique pendant bracelet. She names this style 'Daphne', after the Greek water nymph who is transformed into a laurel tree. The bracelet features a round hand-crocheted pendant in pistachio, flanked by strands of glass beads and 14k gold-plated beads.

A myriad shades of blue conjure a cool and soothing universe in this elegant nierika, or votive beadwork painting by Kupihaute. Scorpions scuttle purposefully around the center of the composition, which takes the shape of a flower with five wide petals.

The artist, who writes fluently in the Huichol, Nahuatl and English languages, talks about this work in his own words. "From the focal center of the nierika, the precious flower arises in spiral movement as the culminating expression of the deepest roots. The blossom is keeping in its entrails the seed that will disseminate the power of creative energy. This is symbolized by the scorpions that, in their wonderful body symmetry, show the essence of the power itself, since any imbalance in its mating dance, any missing the target, will cause its own poisoning and thus its own death. Therefore the symbol of cosmos, of order is shown in their mouths and the tails."

The intricate images are formed with tiny seed beads. Kupihuate patiently places them one at a time with a needle made of abalone shell onto a huanacaxtle wood backing. Beeswax is used instead of glue.

The process is totally spontaneous, with no previous sketch or design. It is guided by the artist's unconscious to tell the stories that remain in our collective ancestral memory. He signs his work with the symbol of a butterfly on the reverse side of the nierika.