Jewelry might be a universal treasure, but there are certain places in the world where artisans have perfected the craft. In this ongoing series, we’re going to highlight the incredible countries and cultures that are world-renowned for their jewelry-making skills. In this edition, we’re taking you to the silver experts in Mexico, the handmade gold jewelers in Turkey and stone carvers in India.
Silver Jewelry — Mexico
Metal working goes way back in Mexico, all the way to the Mesoamerican period when people like the Aztec’s forged, gold, copper and silver. But it wasn’t until the Spaniards arrived in the colonial era that silver making had a huge rise in Mexico — the Europeans wanting everything from jewelry to jars made out of the precious metal by local skilled craftsman. Silver making in Mexico went on like this for centuries, making a name for itself around the globe, but had a renaissance of sorts in the 1930’s centered in the city Taxco. It was during this period that Mexican silver makers started working with much more modern forms and exciting new designs to export. Today, there aren’t as many silver makers working in the country or Taxco region, but Mexico is still the number one producer of silver in the world.
Gold Jewelry — Turkey
While over the last decade Turkey has seen enormous gold export growth, they’ve been perfecting the craft for nearly 5-thousand years. Everyone who conquered this land contributed to the longstanding Turkish gold and jewelry craft and style, from the Hittites and Urartians to the Romans and Ottomans. In fact, Anatolia was the first place that refined gold and minted the very first coins that contained the precious alloy.
Today, this unique proficiency and history allows Turkey to produce some of the finest gold jewelry on the planet. With high-level facilities and skilled craftsmen, the Turkish gold industry is proving to be among the best for designing and producing a wide variety of beautiful, high end gold jewelry for brands and companies all over the world.
Stone Carving — India
A major cornerstone of Indian culture is jewelry, the art of stone carving becoming a particularly cherished craft over the last five millennia. The Indians were famous for sourcing precious stones like diamonds and sapphires from home — think of famous stones like the 186 carat Koh-i-Noor diamond. But, the Indians also traveled throughout the region to get rubies, emeralds and different colored sapphires. No matter where they got the stones, though, they always brought them home to be carved. The Indian craftsmen were world-renowned for their thorough understanding of gems and ability to cut each stone to accentuate their individual properties.
This was quite different than the European way of cutting, which was much more about shine and brilliance. But eventually, the Indian jewelers did adopt European stone cutting practices, only increasing their craftsmanship and desirability around the world. Today, India’s rich gemological legacy is putting them on the map for not only jewelers and companies who want to work with them, but collectors who can’t wait to get their hands on their incredible Indian-cut stones.
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