“No matter what you are doing, keep the undercurrent of happiness. Learn to be secretly happy within your heart in spite of all circumstances.”
I created this necklace as my entry for the 2019 Etsy Design Awards.
The Undercurrent pendant will live in my Etsy shop until the contest is over in September. Please do not purchase it, or I will be disqualified. Thank you!
Good luck to all of the participating Etsy sellers!
Last night, my dear friends at Fábrica Social celebrated their 10 year anniversary at Espacio Horizontal, in the Colonia Roma.
Dulce Martínez and Daniela Gremion empower 148 women artisans from indigenous communities across Mexico with fair access to market, and design workshops that allow them to explore their creativity and continue to create their beautiful textiles.
“We protect rural indigenous times, rhythms, spaces and customs so that they continue to exist, and with them the traditional textile techniques of the women artisans who create them each day. ”
It was a treat to see samples from Fábrica's current and past collections, next to the raw materials, natural dyes, and weaving techniques the women use to create them. The best part was meeting the artists in person. Some travelled to Mexico City from Chiapas, Hidalgo and Oaxaca for the first time.
I am a huge fan of this project and I love every piece I own. I hope you get to see their work in person one day, they have two gorgeous shops in Mexico City. In the meantime, check out their Etsy shop and fall in love with their work on Instagram and Facebook.
“Texture. Color. Stories that are told in every piece.”
Here's a short documentary made by my talented friend, David Haghenbeck, from Focus Cinema and Wild Film, for the first Art Clay Mexico exhibition. He and his lovely wife and creative partner, Patricia, photographed and filmed me in my Roma apartment in early September.
This is the english translation of the interview:
My name is Jennifer Musi and I am a jeweler.
It has has been 9 years this month since I began to make jewelry. I took a class in a government-run trade school, where I learnt the technical aspects of the trade: how to cut, solder, and learn all the basic skills you need to make jewelry with a few tools and a simple method.
I began to create from an early age. My mother is an artist, and when my sister and I were little, she showed us how to make things so that we would let her work in peace. She taught us every new medium she learnt. We learnt to make punch rugs, sew, knit, dye fabric and paint. So ever since I was young, making things with my hands has been natural to me.
I love Art Clay because I was first a painter and a ceramist, and my work as a jeweler is very graphic. Art Clay allows me to draw on a maleable substance and turn it into a piece that is hardened by fire. With my background as a visual artist, it is the perfect medium for me to make jewelry.
Art Clay registers every mark I make when I draw on a soft rubber mold. It is the best way to faithfully reproduce something. I love that I get to keep every mark I make during the building process: it registers fingerprints or crooked lines, and both can be part of the finished silver piece. I think that those details or “accidents” give life to a handmade object. It’s like when children draw, it’s their looseness and freedom which gives their art such energy and vitality.
For this show, I made 15 small amulets. Some will later become pendants or rings, but for this exhibition I decided to leave them as small frames. Every piece has a figure; there are animals, objects and people. I like that every one is a symbol: the hand represents peace or protection, animals are the beast within, they are all a part of us. I wanted to create a playful inner world.
It was an honor to participate in the first Art Clay exhibit in Mexico City!
The show will be open through Sunday at the Franz Mayer Museum, as part of the Abierto Mexicano de Diseño.
I've been away for a while, and I wanted to thank you for your kind comments on Instagram and Facebook. Your encouragement means the world to me!
Since I last wrote, I have so much to be grateful for:
My dad is finally home after a long stint at the hospital
We survived last night's earthquake
It's been 10 years this month since I took my first jewelry class
I sold my 800th piece on Etsy!
I've also had lots of fun making amulets with Art Clay. The group you see here will be exhibited in the Abierto Mexicano de Diseño from October 18-22, in downtown Mexico City.
I will continue to add to this series next week. Every piece will be available in my online shop.
Have a wonderful and inspiring weekend!
Thank you for coming to my last online sale of 2016!
My Etsy shop will be closed until January 15.
Have a wonderful end of the year!
Today I celebrate my 700th sale on Etsy. Thank you so much for supporting my work during all these years! You inspire me to explore my creative path with even more enthusiasm. As soon as my hand is fully healed, I will share many new ideas with you.
In the meantime, my last sale of the year continues, and everything in my online shop has 30% off. Enter the code: 2016SALE at checkout to redeem. The sale ends on October 31, at 10 pm (CST).
Mi last online sale of the year has started!
Enter the code 2016SALE (single word) at checkout, and get 30% off your entire purchase.
Sale ends on October 31, at 10 pm (CST).
All sales are final.
My final sale of the year will start this Friday, October 21, at 10am CST.
Everything in my online shop will be 30% off. This includes my jewelry, drawings and paintings.
Please enter the coupon code: 2016SALE (single word) to get your discount.
The sale ends on October 31 at 10 pm CST.
I will add the Quartz Series to my online shop on Monday, between 1 and 2 pm, Mexico City time. Sign up here if you want me to email you as soon as I do.
Have a great weekend!
I just added the Landscape Series to my online shop.
If you no longer see the piece you are looking for, it means it has already sold.
The Landscape Series will be available in my online shop tomorrow, between 1 and 2 pm, Mexico City time.
Sign up here if you want to be notified the minute I add this collection to my shop. Each piece is one of a kind.
Today I turn 43, and I am so happy to be here!
Welcome to my new website!
I built my previous site two years ago using Weebly, a simple site builder that was perfect for my needs at the time.
I decided to switch to Squarespace because I can change my template and move my website wherever and whenever I want without loosing my content. I thought I would be finished in a week, but I had to learn how to use this platform and manually migrate all of my content from my previous site, so here I am three weeks later.
I've created a much more visual experience so that you can easily explore previous blog posts, see where I live and work, and learn about my creative process. It has been a pleasure and a challenge to build this site. I hope you enjoy it!
