ABOUT
Casa Catalina Jewelry is a celebration of our cultural connections through travel, art and adornment.
Designer and maker, Caitlin Velázquez-Fagley, grew up with travel. She would return to her home in the American Southwest inspired by what she saw and feel an urge to create.
“It’s the expansive landscapes of the high desert that allow my mind to dream and design. I gather inspiration from abroad, unpack it in my home studio and slowly begin designing.”
Casa Catalina is centered around having those cultural experiences from traveling, searching for the similarities between the different ways of life, and fusing that into each design. With a deep love for the handmade, Caitlin meticulously paints each oil painting on wood panel, carves her models from wax, and assembles the work by using traditional metalsmithing techniques.
Outside of her jewelry world, Caitlin is a full-time mom. She enjoys meals with her family, hiking the mountainous foothills near her home, and imagining her next travel destination.
Artist Statement
Caitlin Velázquez-Fagley is a miniature oil painter and jeweler, and she is also an avid traveler. She comes from a multicultural and bilingual background with an Irish and Puerto Rican heritage.
Growing up surrounded by the arts of New Mexico, her creative ideas are enriched by the exposure to travels abroad. She loves to find the connections between seemingly different cultures to create her pieces, and jewelry that is rooted in art has been something she’s been drawn to.
Combining this with her eclectic work experience in architecture, teaching English in Spain, and building adobe homes in Santa Fe, she pulls what she’s learned from each life chapter to interpret her designs. She continues exploring the world for her collection themes and returns inspired to her home studio where she crafts her ideas into wearable art objects.