Ashanti Jewelry

Out of all the jewelry techniques that exist I chose one of the most ancient ones, the Ashanti lost wax technique from the Akan Kingdom. This technique is 6000 years old.

My point is not to steal a knowledge or appropriate it and make it my own but to make archeological research of my past. For me it is an honor to be one of the holders of this know-how, for the history, its provenance, and the closeness to the ancient lost wax technique from Colombia.

As I am adopted from Colombia, jewelry has always been a way to connect with my unknown past and its secrets. Colombia has an important history of gold, gems, jewelry, and the spiritual realm as you may know.

Questioning the past, the present and the future led me to find a way to shield me off from the outside to keep my foundations clear. I had to start this research from the beginning to understand the elements that traced my origins.

 I chose to present a series of rings, created with the Ashanti technique. The process takes a long time, it is a meditative unfolding of steps in which time must be forgotten so that the piece can fully blossom. Every element used for the technique and the steps are simple, but the procedure is a lot more complex than it seems. At the end it’s nearly like magic when the jewelry comes out of its shell after being held by the forces of nature.