"My artistic formation began when I was a baby; its origins are in my family environment. When my second daughter was born in 2002, I realized I needed to spend more time at home with her and her sister, who is four years older....
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Close WindowClaudia Vivanco
"My artistic formation began when I was a baby; its origins are in my family environment. When my second daughter was born in 2002, I realized I needed to spend more time at home with her and her sister, who is four years older. I'm a lawyer, and my profession demands long hours. I'd come home from work exhausted.
"That's when I began taking silversmith classes with my sister, Galia and began to learn about the process and its techniques. Later, she referred me to her own professors and I took private classes with them. As far as design and style go, I place all my experiences in them, and create only pieces of the highest quality that I myself would wear with pride.
"I'm Claudia Vivanco Zumaeta, born into a family of artists in Lima on June 9, 1968. My mother is an artist and my father is an architect. I'm the oldest of four sisters, each of whom studied different art expressions. One is a ceramist, two studied classical music and I play the guitar. I also study drawing and painting in the Lima Museum of Art.
"One of my greatest motives to continue in this marvelous world has been my surprise when my pieces fairly flew! I began with a lot, shyly showing them to my friends and colleagues who were amazed at the talent I'd been hiding. But there was always someone to remind me how I loved to visit craft shows and talk with the jewelers about the origin of their designs and the way they worked.
"People always told me I was an old soul. While my sisters played, I'd spend hours listening to music while I'd make doll clothes and accessories. And I made doll houses, too. Today my hobby is my work and my total passion – jewelry. All my pockets and purses are full of sketches and designs.
"My jewelry has personality, designed for people who aren't afraid of form or color. You won't go unnoticed with my designs. Motivated by their creation, their transformation, I feel a need to elaborate jewelry from materials that, by themselves, would never have been combined. I need to create pieces with their own life and personality. I want to transmit sensations of beauty, strength and security. Each time you wear a piece of my jewelry, I'd like you to feel strong, unique and lovely.
"This art is everything for me – it's a total realization of the spirit. I love it! And I feel that with my designs, I contribute to the creation of items that aren't only inert objects, but that transmit my heritage, my culture, my expectations.
"My greatest challenge is the one I live each day – together with my husband, to raise our daughters with values, with sweetness, with character and discipline. That's a huge challenge! Professionally, the most difficult thing for me was to leave my law career and bet everything on the development of my passion for jewelry.
"When you receive a design of mine, you receive an entire story. It begins when I find the stone and the perfect color, what it transmits to me at that moment. I become inspired, and begin the search for materials to accompany it and give it the force or the sweetness to tell the story with harmonious beauty, with feeling. Please know that every detail has been carefully elaborated and selected for each one of you. Thank you."