Hello and welcome to Casa Catalina Jewelry.
For some years, Casa Catalina went under a different moniker and was mostly rooted in all things experimental and with a new name, a new chapter was turned.
I've decided to create statement jewelry inspired by the cultures and landscapes of New Mexico. I carefully curates design motifs collected from my travels abroad and combine them with the traditional arts aesthetic of New Mexico. The impetus is to create jewelry with a multi-cultural, yet distinguishably New Mexican feel and to celebrate our cultural connections through adornment.
I keep detailed notebooks with sketches of motifs and patterns from when I visit museums and monuments on my travels abroad. I return home to New Mexico and apply those motifs to my work.
I grew up with travel in my life and over time, I began noticing that many cultures use the same design motifs, or iterations of them, throughout history and from all over the world. What’s fascinating is that many of these motifs can also be found in the traditional arts of New Mexico. This is because New Mexico has always attracted people from many cultures. We are geographically located in an area where many people from different cultural backgrounds have either passed through, or settled.
New Mexico is incredibly rich with history, and it is my goal to highlight what makes this place unique. I have lived here almost all of my life, and have a deep connection to this place that I don't quite understand yet. Why is this home? Why does this place keep calling me back to it? I don't have the answers, but I love exploring our connection to place through art and I use lessons from what I've gained through travel to dive deeper. I create work to honor and embrace our sense of place, our cultural heritages and the history that ties us together. It’s incredible to witness our human interconnectedness through the arts and to interpret that into timeless statement jewelry that can be worn everyday.
Each piece for Casa Catalina Jewelry is meticulously painted with oil paint on wood panel, carved from wax by hand, and assembled using traditional metalsmithing techniques. The goal is to design jewelry that feels culturally diverse, yet distinguishably New Mexican.
Thank you for visiting my website and expressing interest in my work. Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions via email or DM.
Caitlin
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