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Beek on being JEWELRY DESIGNERS · Beek on being

• 0:00
  Melissa Shere Beek: Hi. I hope you are well. This podcast is a place for people to share personal and professional perspectives, talk openly, and ask questions. From serious to silly to sublime, it's all about communication and connection. Always coming from a place of kindness and curiosity, we talk about shared humanity, discuss ideas, and highlight people creating a better world.
• 0:24
  We've got to keep learning, keep growing, keep being. I'm Melissa Beek, and this is Beek on being. Today's episode is Beek on being a jewelry designer. There's something about jewels, whether you wear them to feel more attractive or you're drawn to the shine of special stones, Maybe it's a combination of confidence, self expression, and appreciation. Undoubtedly, there is beauty in jewels.
• 0:48
  But there is a true specialness about jewelry crafted by hand. The uniqueness, connection, and meaning behind it are all woven into one piece. It's wearing an incredible work of art that speaks to you personally. In studio today, we have Patricia Arango and Alejandro Hunter, the dynamic duo behind Patricia Arango Jewelry to tell us all about the magic that they make. I am so thrilled to have you both in studio.
• 1:13
  I'm like secretly happy dancing over here because I've I've just waited to have you here. You're a piece of my life every day. I'm like decked out in all of the wonderful designs that you've created and so I'm really honored you're here today, so thank you.
• 1:27
  Patricia Arango: So happy to be here. Yay. So happy.
• 1:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, for our listeners, will you tell them a little bit about yourselves and how you got into jewelry design?
• 1:36
  Patricia Arango: Yes. I'm Patricia. I started doing jewelry around twenty five years ago. I was looking for something to do, I came back from Colombia, we were living in Colombia, my family. For maybe a year, we lived in Colombia and we came back and I was looking for something to do.
• 2:00
  Usually I had work with clothing, my mom has boutiques, women boutiques. And I by chance, I came into a bead store and I love turquoise and coral. And I bought a strand of coral and a strand of turquoise, and I had no idea what to do. So, I bought them and that's how it started.
• 2:27
  Melissa Shere Beek: But they spoke to you, you Yes. Had to
• 2:28
  Patricia Arango: Totally. Totally. Yeah.
• 2:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: And when did you come along?
• 2:34
  Alejandro Hunter: So, like in 2020, I guess, I was working at a bike shop and then they kinda temporarily closed, so I was at home a lot. And she told me she asked me if I wanted to help her out with her business, the website, and I mainly started with the website, the Instagram. So this was 2020, and just little by little, the, you know, the business developed and we have been lucky to have a very very fun journey
• 3:01
  Patricia Arango: Yeah.
• 3:01
  Alejandro Hunter: For the past
• 3:02
  Melissa Shere Beek: few both creative in different ways.
• 3:05
  Alejandro Hunter: Would say she was the more creative one, but
• 3:07
  Patricia Arango: but he is very creative.
• 3:08
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, no, I see your Instagram, I see everything, you're really brilliant with that as well. He takes the pictures,
• 3:14
  Patricia Arango: so you need to be creative to do that, and he's just learning to exploit his creative world. Yeah. So, yeah, he is.
• 3:25
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. I think I'm more creative in not so much design, I mean, I don't know how to draw, I don't know how to draft anything, but I think being under her influence maybe has kind of tried like, I've learned a little bit more about what things are tasteful, I mean, how to combine different materials and yeah, but she's she's the mean, she's the artist, I would say that's the
• 3:46
  Melissa Shere Beek: yeah. So, how did you go from being creative to creating a business?
• 3:51
  Patricia Arango: I started little by little. Mhmm. First learning how to string and close a necklace and put a clasp, and
• 3:59
  Melissa Shere Beek: That's okay. You wanna get it?
• 4:00
  Patricia Arango: No, I won't get it. And then, first I learned that, then I had to I had to sell the ones that I had to because I wanted to try more.
• 4:12
  Melissa Shere Beek: And buy more jewels.
• 4:13
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, to mix more colors and more beads and more things, so you need to sell what you're doing because you cannot get full of necklaces. Right. So, that's how it started, and of course, little by little selling to friends. Right. And then to their friends and
• 4:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: Did you ever take classes in jewelry design, even at the store?
• 4:34
  Patricia Arango: I did take jewelry, a metal smithing class.
• 4:38
  Melissa Shere Beek: Oh, cool.
• 4:39
  Patricia Arango: And it was for maybe two years Mhmm. But I already had a business and I couldn't get the the art of metal smith perfected.
• 4:49
  Melissa Shere Beek: Mhmm.
• 4:50
  Patricia Arango: So, I just kept doing the mixing and designing part and never pursued that, but I did study it.
• 4:59
  Melissa Shere Beek: Were you always creative before the BBD?
• 5:03
  Patricia Arango: I didn't know, but yes, I'm creative everything. With cooking, I cook the same way I make jewelry. With a plan, I open the fridge and I see what there is, and I remember recipes that I saw, and that's how I cook.
• 5:20
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, whatever inspires you. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. What does inspire you when you're creative?
• 5:25
  Patricia Arango: Everything. Everything inspires you. A little design, a little small bead can become the the creative, I don't know, the creative beginning of something that keeps happening, and then you like something else and that sparks something different.
• 5:47
  Melissa Shere Beek: Just keeps It's
• 5:48
  Patricia Arango: work. You know, does make you creative is work. Yeah. Because it happens, well, sometimes It's you craft could bead.
• 5:55
  Alejandro Hunter: Not only, you know, an intuition, but it's also like you have to build it and she, yeah.
• 6:00
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right. It starts, the catalyst could be one bead, then you have to build something around Yeah. So, when did you first start creating pieces to wear?
• 6:10
  Patricia Arango: Since the beginning.
• 6:11
  Melissa Shere Beek: Since the beginning.
• 6:12
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. They were necklaces. I I did necklaces for a very long time, because that's what I wore the most, and I wore them well, because I like them a lot, and then people see it and they kind of are attracted Yeah. To what you feel. The people, I am very bohemian.
• 6:32
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, I love it.
• 6:33
  Patricia Arango: And I love to wear many pieces together and mix different things, so that people who like that style are drawn to that.
• 6:42
  Melissa Shere Beek: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I like that each piece is personal. Yeah. I like that each piece sort of tells a story.
• 6:48
  I like that you can interpret it to the meaning that
• 6:51
  Alejandro Hunter: To your own mind.
• 6:51
  Melissa Shere Beek: It's you. Yeah.
• 6:52
  Patricia Arango: It's That is super
• 6:53
  Melissa Shere Beek: nice It's about mass produced. Yeah. It's not something that I can go to a store and 10 other women are wearing. Yeah. There's a uniqueness to it that's just very special.
• 7:01
  Patricia Arango: I always try to be unique because that it makes me very happy. Yeah. When I mix something that I saw on a fabric and translate it to a necklace or something that I kind of create something that I didn't see before. I don't know if it's new, but for me it is. Yeah.
• 7:20
  So, yeah, I love when that happens.
• 7:23
  Melissa Shere Beek: I think that's fabulous. And Alejandro, how did you come along into the business? Did you study because I know that you're more on the social media end and doing all that. Did you study business or
• 7:34
  Alejandro Hunter: No. I studied computer science.
• 7:36
  Patricia Arango: Mhmm.
• 7:37
  Alejandro Hunter: So I started working with her while I was at school. So I was in school at FIU, but all of so mainly, I guess, I I do more business management like production or sales and that sort of thing.
• 7:50
  Patricia Arango: Mhmm.
• 7:52
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. Tell us what your role consists of.
• 7:54
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. No. May so I speak to our suppliers in India basically, I mean, every day, I guess, between ten and 01:00, which is kind of our window to talk to them. Wow. And then if you don't catch them during that window, you have to reach the next day and but that's kind of what I do more administration, I guess, work is what I do.
• 8:12
  And then some creative things like the catalog and some of but we have somebody that helps with the social media. Mhmm. So she does a lot of the actual, like, work.
• 8:23
  Melissa Shere Beek: The staging of With
• 8:24
  Alejandro Hunter: stage, yeah. I do some of the product photography, or I do actually all the product, but the photoshoots we do in Colombia. Right. And that's handled by I mean, those are pros Stunning. Over Yeah.
• 8:37
  Those are
• 8:38
  Melissa Shere Beek: If your visit if our viewers have not seen your page, they need to stop what they're doing go look. Yeah. Stunning photoshoots.
• 8:46
  Patricia Arango: We have beautiful photoshoots.
• 8:48
  Melissa Shere Beek: Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt I'm just they're so dreamy The and thinking about
• 8:52
  Alejandro Hunter: first time we did them, I mean, you we have somebody that's helped us with branding Mhmm. And and marketing and everything, and she kind of handles a lot of the process, but we still have to be involved to pick the photographer and the models and but from there and the magic that's created after that, that's like I remember the first time we did it, the photoshoot, like it's it's it's just seeing what is on the camera screen and then that, like, I don't know, never having seen a real process like that is
• 9:20
  Melissa Shere Beek: Was it surprising when it came to fruition to see your work, like, on the page like that?
• 9:26
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, because they're professionals at what they do. Yeah. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted. Uh-huh. And I loved like making the decisions.
• 9:35
  I want this top, I want this skirt, I want this model, I want this setting, but they are the ones who know how to do great photography, makeup.
• 9:44
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. Like it.
• 9:49
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, when now, like, how would you
• 9:52
  Alejandro Hunter: But
• 9:52
  Melissa Shere Beek: one thing with jewelry especially.
• 9:54
  Patricia Arango: We have done several campaigns, and I mean, I have to be so involved in every little detail that is very exhausting because you need to have a lot of things happening at the same time, you need to choose the clothing, you need to choose the model, you need to choose every pose, everything, and I need to be on top of everything even if I'm not the expert at photography or the other things, I need to be on top of everything.
• 10:25
  Melissa Shere Beek: Because it has to be your vision.
• 10:27
  Alejandro Hunter: Has to The look be my is completely. Yeah. She has to be at every single, like, we can't hand it off, like, somebody, you know, a batch of pieces and then have them execute because they don't know, like, the look may be really nice, but there may be the model's not showing the the light properly or any number of things that
• 10:45
  Melissa Shere Beek: Not highlighting what you
• 10:46
  Patricia Arango: want Usually, in your I'm very easy with everything. I don't mind what Alejandro does with the business in any way except when it's a picture and I want to see this a little bit turned that way, a little bit facing that way, or mixed with this and that.
• 11:04
  Melissa Shere Beek: Well, it's your vision. Yeah. Exhausting but also exciting? Yes. Very
• 11:08
  Alejandro Hunter: exciting. Very Photosuits are like the one of the highlights for the year, would say, to go Yeah. There and
• 11:13
  Melissa Shere Beek: How many photoshoots do you guys do a year? Is it like a seasonal
• 11:16
  Patricia Arango: No, fusion you've or a a reaction? We have done two, I think.
• 11:19
  Alejandro Hunter: We've done four.
• 11:20
  Patricia Arango: Oh, wow. No, four, yeah, but maybe in a year, maximum two. Mhmm. Yeah. But it's a lot and we have to go to Colombia because otherwise it would be super expensive to do Yeah.
• 11:32
  It
• 11:33
  Melissa Shere Beek: Oh, that's a shame.
• 11:34
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, it's a shame because usually brands of my category, I would say, don't have a photoshoot because it's very expensive to do here.
• 11:44
  Melissa Shere Beek: I bet, yeah.
• 11:45
  Alejandro Hunter: Or they do them more frequently with somebody that works there or something more, but
• 11:50
  Melissa Shere Beek: then you wouldn't be that involved with it.
• 11:52
  Alejandro Hunter: If you, like, if you have, for example, staff that can sit in, you know, to model or whatever, then you can get that done. So I think doing it more frequently is probably a little bit better just because otherwise you run out of content, like sometimes Yeah.
• 12:08
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right.
• 12:08
  Alejandro Hunter: We have to repackage what we've done, which gets a little bit repetitive on the Mhmm. On the feed. Right. But, yeah, campaign is a lot of work. Mean, the set and then there's like, I would say there's probably 10 people that that that ten, twelve people that help out Wow.
• 12:24
  On a When what you see is very just the model and then her. So it's
• 12:29
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. But there's a lot of work There's a lot that goes into it beforehand.
• 12:33
  Alejandro Hunter: A lot of work.
• 12:33
  Patricia Arango: A lot of work.
• 12:34
  Alejandro Hunter: Very talented people we work with.
• 12:35
  Melissa Shere Beek: Must be so rewarding when you see the pictures at Oh, the
• 12:37
  Patricia Arango: very much.
• 12:38
  Melissa Shere Beek: Like, you must be blown away.
• 12:39
  Patricia Arango: Yeah.
• 12:40
  Melissa Shere Beek: Is it hard, mother and son working together?
• 12:42
  Patricia Arango: It was very hard. Answered I so thought, no, this is not gonna be possible. Really? We are family or we work together, but both, it's too much. I used to say, at 05:00, please don't talk to me about business.
• 13:02
  My. Don't wanna know anything. Sweet Alamondro?
• 13:04
  Alejandro Hunter: Lasted more than a little bit of time. I think that was No.
• 13:07
  Patricia Arango: No, no, no. I I thought that that wasn't possible. I admire families that work together because it's not easy. Yeah. Not easy.
• 13:16
  Melissa Shere Beek: There's no space.
• 13:17
  Alejandro Hunter: No Especially at home because we work from home, there's no, like, commuting is is to the garage. Oh. Because we built our
• 13:24
  Melissa Shere Beek: Our studio. Even walking to work together.
• 13:27
  Alejandro Hunter: Walk to
• 13:28
  Patricia Arango: work is the best thing ever.
• 13:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: So how did you get over that hump of of that sort of difficulty? You still just don't talk to each other after five?
• 13:37
  Alejandro Hunter: Over time. Yeah. I think I was the main contributor to that sort of Discord there, but yeah, I think I just I just learned to maybe, as as you are more involved in business over time, you just lose, not excitement, but you lose like, yeah, maybe the excite not that it's not exciting anymore, but you
• 13:56
  Melissa Shere Beek: lose But the novelty of it.
• 13:57
  Alejandro Hunter: The novelty and so, things that otherwise would have gotten done at 06:30 can get done at 9AM the next day.
• 14:03
  Patricia Arango: And we both have matured a lot in that way, learn more respect the, he's your son, to be I never respected him or anything, but I mean, don't be a mom.
• 14:17
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right, you're respecting his process.
• 14:19
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, his process, and it takes time and he's the most amazing person, so it ended up working really well.
• 14:31
  Melissa Shere Beek: Because I always see you as a dynamic duo. We I'm not I, you know, I don't know the after 05:00 situation, but, like, it's hard when you wear two hats Yeah. As a family relationship and as a business relationship because you would talk to or act or react to someone differently if you're not at home with them or related Yeah. To
• 14:50
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, absolutely.
• 14:51
  Melissa Shere Beek: And you can kind of leave that at work where this would carry over to dinner.
• 14:56
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, we learned a lot and we both have grown a lot learning to deal with that.
• 15:04
  Alejandro Hunter: And the work personality, I think you can adopt a certain like, not attitude, but some people have different ways of expressing themselves like at work, maybe a different, not intensity, but Right. Different way of speaking or being more direct.
• 15:19
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, you definitely speak to your mom differently than you do your boss, but now that your mom is your boss Right. It's kind of different.
• 15:23
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, exactly. So you need to kind of learn those, Everyone works differently, people have different ways that they like to engage some people are less direct, but
• 15:33
  Melissa Shere Beek: some people are morning people and some people aren't. Absolutely. So, like, you know, somebody who wants to hit the ground running, both are morning. You both are, yeah.
• 15:41
  Patricia Arango: Now we're ready. So, that works.
• 15:41
  Melissa Shere Beek: Because then it's not that they're not efficient, but their timing Yeah, is
• 15:45
  Alejandro Hunter: absolutely. Yeah. So,
• 15:47
  Melissa Shere Beek: I want to go back to your inspiration. You draw from everything.
• 15:51
  Patricia Arango: Yeah.
• 15:52
  Melissa Shere Beek: Tell me certain things, because
• 15:53
  Patricia Arango: I know For example, India. Okay. Started going to India more than ten years ago and I love how they do everything artisanal with their hands. They are so talented with, yeah, working with their hands because it's basic. I work with artisans that do each piece by hand mostly.
• 16:23
  So, and they they are amazing at what they do. Yeah. The colors they use, all the history they have. So, India is one of my big biggest inspirations, and that's endless because I mean, they have so many beautiful things.
• 16:39
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. So, how do you take the inspiration of India from like the art, the architecture, the people, and make that sort of that tapestry woven into your artwork? How does that how do you combine all of those things?
• 16:53
  Patricia Arango: Maybe you do that without knowing where it starts or where it ends. I mix, for example, a lot of fabric, it's not fabric, but threads with my jewelry.
• 17:05
  Melissa Shere Beek: Textile y kind of things.
• 17:06
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. And I was inspired by this one necklace that is, I don't know, 400 years old. Mhmm. It was a huge ruby hanging from a piece of silk. Oh, wow.
• 17:16
  And I love that. I want my pieces to look old, to be something that you found in a lost store somewhere, in a when you were traveling.
• 17:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: A piece of history, Yeah.
• 17:32
  Patricia Arango: A piece Like a treasure
• 17:33
  Alejandro Hunter: chest or
• 17:33
  Patricia Arango: something Yeah. I pretend that my pieces are that, and that gives me
• 17:39
  Melissa Shere Beek: so I do much too. Yeah. Every time I look at my arm, I pretend where I've been with all of them.
• 17:44
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. Know.
• 17:45
  Melissa Shere Beek: So fun. Yeah.
• 17:47
  Patricia Arango: Like that, and then leather is something that I use a lot. I love the bohemian look. Yeah. They can have diamonds, emeralds, golds, and everything, but I don't want fancy
• 18:01
  Alejandro Hunter: Very classic.
• 18:02
  Patricia Arango: Classic elegant jewels. Right. So, not the opposite of that inspires me a lot. Yeah. So, you never know, like, what inspires.
• 18:15
  Melissa Shere Beek: I like the rawness and the authenticity of your pieces. It's nothing that's manufactured. Yeah. It sort of speaks to time travel, like where we where you've been, what you've seen, and you sort of take the best of these elements from everywhere that you've loved and combine them into one. So, I like that you use so many different materials.
• 18:35
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. I love that.
• 18:36
  Melissa Shere Beek: Where do you get your materials?
• 18:39
  Patricia Arango: I whenever I travel, I'm always on the look for pieces that I can use in my jewelry. So, I have my studio is full of beads fabrics, threads, pendants. I buy them without knowing how I'm going to mix them.
• 18:59
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right. And you have
• 19:00
  Patricia Arango: to When have you least expected something that you had four years ago in a little box, you can put it together with something new that you just designed and you put them together and that's
• 19:14
  Melissa Shere Beek: Comes to life.
• 19:15
  Patricia Arango: Yes, and it comes to life. Yeah.
• 19:17
  Melissa Shere Beek: I love going to your studio, it's like one of my favorite places. So, what's one of the most important things in creating pieces?
• 19:25
  Patricia Arango: To be true to yourself. Mhmm. Because that way you can people see that. Yeah. You can transmit that.
• 19:34
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right. It doesn't look The for
• 19:35
  Patricia Arango: easiest thing is like people who connect with you and your style, immediately if they like that style, they are connected Yeah. To what you yeah.
• 19:45
  Alejandro Hunter: People know when you're designing for like a market or when you're designing for somebody Right.
• 19:50
  Patricia Arango: It's very different. Also like my jewelry to sell, but it's difficult for me because sometimes because I just want to do what I like. Right.
• 20:04
  Melissa Shere Beek: But you'll find your audience. Think what Alejandro said was it's harder to make pieces when you're thinking about what does the consumer want as opposed to what really speaks to Yeah. My And then finding your clientele through that.
• 20:18
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. But if you designed for an idea of the the mark, that's nobody. Mean, she is a very clear, like, idea of somebody and I think people that connect with that is kind of
• 20:27
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right. They share that same.
• 20:29
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. Eventually the people who will find you.
• 20:32
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah.
• 20:33
  Patricia Arango: When you are true to yourself.
• 20:34
  Melissa Shere Beek: I think so. Because then I also think you lack inspiration if you're only going for the next trend or the next thing or whatever you're seeing out there, what you think consumers want. Yeah. Because then how do you continue to have creative thoughts or process if you're not doing what speaks to you.
• 20:51
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, it's another type of business, I would say.
• 20:54
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. Yeah. Is that hard balancing the creativeness with the business Sometimes
• 20:59
  Patricia Arango: it's the easiest thing.
• 21:01
  Melissa Shere Beek: Really?
• 21:02
  Patricia Arango: Sometimes you sit down and it flows like it doesn't stop. And other times, like everything in life, you don't find it.
• 21:13
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right.
• 21:14
  Patricia Arango: And you struggle also.
• 21:17
  Melissa Shere Beek: Do you are you both concerned with making curated seasonal, like each time we put out like a new thing, or you just continue to create what inspires you?
• 21:31
  Patricia Arango: I continue to create what inspires me, but I have I keep in my mind also that I'm making pieces for summer. Right. Because the stores need pieces
• 21:42
  Alejandro Hunter: for and stores always want new designs.
• 21:44
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right, you want another collection. This is our summer collection, this is the fall collection. Do you ever feel boxed in that way that you have to change up
• 21:53
  Patricia Arango: A a little little and since we are in Miami and we are always Oh, one season. One season. We don't have seasons, but the rest of the country or countries Right. They they need different colors. Yeah.
• 22:06
  Right. That changes.
• 22:07
  Alejandro Hunter: The turquoise can't be always, but for us here, can be always.
• 22:10
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. You're doing business and you're talking with the people from India and all over the world, are they saying to you, we're looking for this kind of color coming the fall or we want this or our customers are asking for x, y, and z?
• 22:25
  Alejandro Hunter: Like our suppliers? Mhmm. Do they like, if they give us
• 22:28
  Melissa Shere Beek: market the vendors you have in different markets around the world, are they asking you for specific things? Generally Depending on season or color or time or what their clients are saying.
• 22:38
  Patricia Arango: They don't ask you, but you are already ready, showing things that they could use for that season. Okay.
• 22:46
  Alejandro Hunter: We generally
• 22:46
  Patricia Arango: And sometimes they do ask you.
• 22:48
  Alejandro Hunter: I mean, the customers, we generally show our, I guess our newer collections twice a year at the shows that we go to, and we present and you some some customers are customers are not very communicative when it comes to like why, like if they like it you'll know and if they don't you won't really know why.
• 23:06
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right.
• 23:07
  Alejandro Hunter: So it's kind of hard to get feedback that way but I would say that across the board, like the general, like where the market goes, like what seasonality exists at the stores, think exists everywhere, but stores generally don't say, hey, my, I don't know, I guess maybe they do. Sometimes some stores have preferences, some clientele likes different things.
• 23:33
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right. So how does the process work? So you create pieces and then you said you go to shows?
• 23:39
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. We create a collection
• 23:41
  Melissa Shere Beek: Okay.
• 23:42
  Patricia Arango: And we go to shows two times a year in New York. Okay. One is
• 23:47
  Melissa Shere Beek: And then you're showing these pieces that you've made to vendors? Yeah. From all over the country or other countries?
• 23:54
  Patricia Arango: All over the country or other countries. Okay. Usually, other countries contact you directly.
• 24:01
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. Okay.
• 24:02
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. Some of the bigger shows, I guess, there are some international buyers at these shows. Not a lot. But generally they're all US based. Yeah.
• 24:09
  There are bigger jewelry shows where international buyers go more frequently, but for us it's mainly US.
• 24:15
  Melissa Shere Beek: But you did go to Big Show, I know you went to Big Show.
• 24:18
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, we did a Big Show. Tell me about that. Yeah, it was very a great experience, because for some reason we have had a lot of customers from The Middle East. Yeah. They like the pieces a lot.
• 24:33
  Melissa Shere Beek: Why not? Of course.
• 24:34
  Patricia Arango: So, It's we did a big show in Bahrain, and we had a gorgeous booth, and it was very interesting, it's a very different market.
• 24:42
  Alejandro Hunter: Huge show.
• 24:43
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, tell me about it. Tell me.
• 24:45
  Patricia Arango: Full of diamonds, and diamonds, and more diamonds.
• 24:47
  Alejandro Hunter: The look I think is very it's more classic over there.
• 24:50
  Patricia Arango: Mhmm.
• 24:51
  Alejandro Hunter: Some of the things that they do like that's not classic is like more I don't know what the right word is, but like big things with big diamonds and emeralds Wow. And Yeah. Mean, if you can only see the the pieces that were there, I mean, all the there's a lot of brands like us, but
• 25:07
  Patricia Arango: Mhmm.
• 25:07
  Alejandro Hunter: It's a lot of I mean, some of the biggest brands in the world are there.
• 25:11
  Patricia Arango: Wow.
• 25:11
  Alejandro Hunter: So, and then you see their pieces and then you compare it to yours, like, a diamond they maybe use is like the size of one of our bracelets or something. Or Oh, I mean, there's
• 25:20
  Melissa Shere Beek: Were you inspired there too, looking No, around
• 25:23
  Patricia Arango: actually, because I was inspired because I liked the culture Mhmm. The aesthetic part of the things I saw there.
• 25:32
  Alejandro Hunter: It was nice to meet a lot of people from We
• 25:34
  Patricia Arango: did meet a lot of people.
• 25:36
  Melissa Shere Beek: That's cool.
• 25:37
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, it was a very interesting experience.
• 25:40
  Alejandro Hunter: That's probably the best part I would say is meeting people from, yeah, such a different culture and
• 25:46
  Melissa Shere Beek: All over the world.
• 25:47
  Alejandro Hunter: But yeah, that's just the show is so huge that it's hard to see, you know, what, maybe 50,000 or
• 25:52
  Patricia Arango: one Something thousand people compared to that. Oh, wow. No, it's huge.
• 25:55
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, how does that compare to the shows that you do twice a year in New York?
• 25:58
  Alejandro Hunter: No, these are much smaller.
• 25:59
  Melissa Shere Beek: On a much smaller scale.
• 26:00
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. Because these are trade shows over there, it's open to the public. Yeah. And it's Oh, wow.
• 26:05
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. So, that's one the biggest Very different. That's I think it's one of the longer standing, like, direct to consumer shows there for jewelry, and it's in Bahrain at the end of November. But the ones we do in New York are
• 26:20
  Melissa Shere Beek: Just to vendors.
• 26:21
  Alejandro Hunter: Not markets that have maybe Yeah. I don't know. Vendors or probably less.
• 26:26
  Melissa Shere Beek: Okay. So, you're in the show, the vendors come around, they look at your pieces, do they place orders with you? Yeah. Like, how does that what's the next step in that process?
• 26:34
  Patricia Arango: They come, they see the collection, you meet them, and they place an order.
• 26:43
  Melissa Shere Beek: 10 of this, 10 of that. Is it hard to replicate a lot of the things that you've done on
• 26:48
  Patricia Arango: unique It's been process, we didn't do that before, but now we do it. We don't do huge quantities of one piece, then that's what you do, so you do a piece, you do a mold and you replicate it.
• 27:05
  Melissa Shere Beek: In different colors, different stones? With
• 27:06
  Patricia Arango: different stones. Yeah. Yeah, that's what we do.
• 27:09
  Melissa Shere Beek: And then does it get shipped to the vendor and then they put it in
• 27:14
  Patricia Arango: In their stores.
• 27:15
  Melissa Shere Beek: Different stores around The United States, they have multiple stores and
• 27:20
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. Usually it's, we sell mainly to like independent
• 27:25
  Melissa Shere Beek: stores. Bootiques?
• 27:25
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, that have one store and they do their own merchandising I guess, but they, yeah, not sort of, not a lot of quantity usually, it's like mostly one of each piece, so they For have little
• 27:37
  Patricia Arango: small boutiques, mostly.
• 27:38
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right, because they don't want to have a lot of same pieces, they want to have different things that they Yeah, can mix and exactly.
• 27:43
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, and most of our collection is, I guess, designed that way so that otherwise, you know, one of a kinds for everybody it's kind of hard. Yeah. But it's kept so that it's a little bit exclusive and so the pieces are otherwise, stores, you know, they don't want the same thing.
• 28:00
  Melissa Shere Beek: So I love that about your pieces. I love that they're unique, and when I wrote in my notes, I said otherworldly, because to me, I think they are. And all of the stones, the silk and cords, you said leather, I forgot about leather, but the threads. So to me, it was like a tapestry composition. And you just said something that really hit with me too is that the beauty of mixing and matching all these pieces.
• 28:22
  So, they're all very different and they're all very unique, but they all go together. Because the soul of it to me is all the same, like the way that it And speaks to
• 28:31
  Patricia Arango: I love also when I like, for example, you have this bohemian style, but sometimes people, most of the people are very classic.
• 28:41
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. Right.
• 28:42
  Patricia Arango: And I love when one of those people choose something super bohemian and mix it up
• 28:48
  Melissa Shere Beek: with And they their mix it with a classic piece. Yeah. But that's the beauty of it because it goes with everything. There's an element in each one of your pieces that could match in anything else.
• 28:57
  Alejandro Hunter: We've been surprised by some people that you would have never expected them to sort of identify with the style, but they maybe don't want a whole stack like that, but they one piece and even the braids that are sometimes a little bit more out there
• 29:10
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah.
• 29:10
  Alejandro Hunter: Like it fits super well with what they've been, you know,
• 29:13
  Melissa Shere Beek: so I I think that goes to it speaks to how spectacular your creativity is and your designs are, that even someone who maybe is on the more traditional side Yes. Is grav gravitates to your pieces. I think they just That's nice
• 29:29
  Patricia Arango: to see.
• 29:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: I just think they like, to me, I'm I'd be sitting in your studio all day long.
• 29:35
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. I think the braids are definitely And I have.
• 29:37
  Melissa Shere Beek: I think
• 29:37
  Alejandro Hunter: I have. Yeah.
• 29:39
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, okay. So you're influenced by travel.
• 29:42
  Patricia Arango: I am.
• 29:43
  Melissa Shere Beek: What else are you influenced by?
• 29:44
  Patricia Arango: By cooking.
• 29:45
  Melissa Shere Beek: By cooking? Yeah. And that shows up in your work, your jewelry as Yes. That's so cool.
• 29:51
  Patricia Arango: Tell me It's like the same process. I don't know, it works like
• 29:56
  Melissa Shere Beek: You're a magician.
• 29:57
  Patricia Arango: I love to watch cooking shows, gardening, art.
• 30:06
  Alejandro Hunter: Homesteading. I think you like homesteading videos too.
• 30:09
  Patricia Arango: Homesteading, simple people that work the land. Right. I love working with hands, the land, art, whatever, but working with your hands. And and you have that all in you and suddenly, when you least expect it, all that comes out. Right.
• 30:25
  And it works with the jewelry or how you dress in those ways?
• 30:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, there's two things that makes me think of now. I'm gonna hold off on the handmade part of it because I wanna get back to that, but I think the beauty of that is that it's not a set recipe everything so that you just you're not gonna get the same thing twice ever. And the beauty in that sounds like that the surprise that you get from putting in the work, whether it's tilling the soil or making the recipe or, you know, baking or cooking or whatever it is, that each time it's something new and different and authentic and genuine and special.
• 31:02
  Patricia Arango: And that keeps me going, because I am like surprised every Right. Yeah. With my own, to me, beauty is like a really big connection with God. Because what I feel when I see beauty, it's not vain at all, it's just like a connection to God.
• 31:25
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right.
• 31:25
  Patricia Arango: So, I feel that when I make something special, when I put something together that is super nice.
• 31:31
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, that goes back to not just tilling the land or cooking or baking or any of those things, but also this the uniqueness about a handmade piece. Yeah. You talked about artisans that you saw in India, but the beauty of what I loved is that I saw you in studio making things by hand. I would see that you had cut out pictures, that you were inspired by this or by that. You would connect things and combine things, and then pictures from Columbia or when you visited your family Yeah.
• 32:03
  Or fabrics that you had. So it the beauty of that is that they are all done by you. This isn't something that's mass produced. Tell me why creating by hand and handmade jewelry is so special.
• 32:18
  Patricia Arango: Because that connects you to human beings.
• 32:22
  Alejandro Hunter: Mhmm.
• 32:22
  Patricia Arango: I mean, for me, nothing is as beautiful as something that is not perfect. Right. I love imperfection. Yeah. In nature, you see it all the time.
• 32:33
  Yeah. It's another way of perfection. Yeah. But not symmetrical perfection. So, I find beauty in imperfection.
• 32:44
  Melissa Shere Beek: I think that's why I was drawn to you. I love things that are pure and raw that have not been messed with, they have maybe a jagged edge or dull side with the sharpness, they're uneven, they're raw, there's something
• 32:55
  Patricia Arango: That you see
• 32:55
  Melissa Shere Beek: in in that beauty.
• 32:57
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, absolutely.
• 32:58
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that. Yeah. We think that's why it gravitated.
• 33:01
  What about what's your feeling about all the handmade pieces?
• 33:03
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, no, I think I think I probably and I think I still do have had trouble maybe in the beginning sort of accepting the that sort of
• 33:15
  Melissa Shere Beek: The imperfect perfectness.
• 33:16
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. The imperfection because you see some things out there that are like the most geometrically perfect things and the finishing, but I've come to appreciate a lot of how she selects the materials and all that and seeing also the process of how the pieces are made like different stages. Yeah. That not that things shouldn't be done properly, I mean, there's always a way to improve, but seeing the the different stages of the process
• 33:45
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. And her creative
• 33:46
  Alejandro Hunter: process. Exactly, Is just makes it all the more special. I mean, it's definitely I think her process is they've they've we've been asked like how she designs or what does she use collages and Mhmm. But the real answer is like how would you answer that? Like, how do you No.
• 34:06
  Patricia Arango: It's so many things, I don't have an answer for that.
• 34:08
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah.
• 34:09
  Patricia Arango: Just work is the answer. Have to sit down Yeah. It only shows up when I'm working because I have ideas, but then when I sit down and do them, maybe it's not what I wanted.
• 34:23
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right. Because once your hands start moving, it either comes together or it doesn't. So the idea is great, I but how's the
• 34:30
  Alejandro Hunter: think the artist is always more critical of Oh. Themselves than everybody else. I see her notebook with all I mean, 1% of the, you know, of the designs get out of the notebook.
• 34:41
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah.
• 34:42
  Alejandro Hunter: And I wonder, like, if only all of this could be, you know, we could have so many
• 34:46
  Melissa Shere Beek: more Reduced.
• 34:47
  Alejandro Hunter: But that's that's, I guess Yeah. The filter that we have to go through because ultimately it's her vision and that's what makes it, you know.
• 34:55
  Melissa Shere Beek: Do each of your stories have a like, do each of your pieces have a story behind them?
• 35:00
  Patricia Arango: Most of them do. Yeah. That I saw this or that from there, from here, from this design, from other designers, I'm inspired from other cultures. Yeah. Also, I love symbols Yes.
• 35:14
  In different cultures.
• 35:16
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yes.
• 35:16
  Patricia Arango: So great that a symbol can accompany you through something that it's so beautiful to use symbols to carry as your jewelry.
• 35:29
  Melissa Shere Beek: And expressions too, because there was a piece of yours that I was drawn to. And you had these initials on it.
• 35:36
  Alejandro Hunter: TSB, yeah. That's the one.
• 35:38
  Melissa Shere Beek: And I said, I wonder what this means? And I asked you what it meant, and you said something, which is what my great grandmother had said to me all the time, which I always had in the back of my head. And this was on one of your pieces, so I had to have it, of course. So, but it's funny how those things, even though I didn't know it was the symbol that you were using and what it stood for, but it was something that I always gravitated to personally. So, that connection too, I think what you said about having symbols that are easily identifiable.
• 36:10
  That one wasn't, but it's still called to me, but I think people gravitate to that because I think it gives them a sense of calm. Yeah. I think it means there's a connection to maybe other people or to the world or whatever it is, and I think it brings I don't know if it's confidence, maybe that's not the right word
• 36:34
  Patricia Arango: for
• 36:34
  Alejandro Hunter: I
• 36:34
  Patricia Arango: think it is confidence, I think that's I
• 36:35
  Alejandro Hunter: think people definitely that's the way it's been described.
• 36:38
  Melissa Shere Beek: Uh-huh. There's a connection.
• 36:40
  Alejandro Hunter: Connection on 100 Even percent with stones, like what she's wearing now, the necklaces with all the stones
• 36:46
  Melissa Shere Beek: I love it.
• 36:47
  Alejandro Hunter: Like, as much as you would like us, we'd like to convey that x y whatever stone has a different meaning. Yeah. People independent of us sort of suggesting that, people bring that out to us that like we've been told at different shows or events how people connect to different stones.
• 37:05
  Patricia Arango: Mhmm.
• 37:06
  Alejandro Hunter: Like, you would have never I mean, I don't know that I would have ever kind of expected that, but it's the most that's the most rewarding part where
• 37:14
  Patricia Arango: can Yeah, it's very rewarding.
• 37:15
  Alejandro Hunter: Where people attach all that meaning and you're part of that, you know?
• 37:18
  Melissa Shere Beek: You're part of that process.
• 37:19
  Alejandro Hunter: Absolutely, yeah.
• 37:20
  Melissa Shere Beek: It lives on beyond you once it goes out, it's incredible. Yeah. Are there any pieces you can't part with?
• 37:27
  Patricia Arango: I am okay when the pieces that I love don't sell. Because I can look at them forever.
• 37:36
  Melissa Shere Beek: Are there any pieces that you just had to have Some for pieces,
• 37:39
  Patricia Arango: yeah, the other day a necklace, Alejandro was going sell a necklace and I said, no. No. I'm not going to repeat it, we did it a long time ago, I'm gonna
• 37:49
  Melissa Shere Beek: keep All of my the examples. Oh yeah,
• 37:51
  Alejandro Hunter: no, And I understand somebody asks this one, this one, this, and I tell her,
• 37:55
  Patricia Arango: we should Let's sell it, let's sell it, how much is that? No. And I said, no.
• 37:59
  Melissa Shere Beek: No. Yeah.
• 38:00
  Alejandro Hunter: The rings, the red ring.
• 38:01
  Patricia Arango: I try not to keep a lamp.
• 38:03
  Melissa Shere Beek: Love that one though.
• 38:04
  Patricia Arango: Really do. What am I going to do with so many pieces, but some I
• 38:08
  Melissa Shere Beek: can't But if it for brings you joy and it speaks to you and you're wearing it every day, why not? Yeah.
• 38:13
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. I think you have to be
• 38:14
  Patricia Arango: surrounded It's so by time inside do pieces come out not the way you want them?
• 38:19
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. Yeah. That's so true.
• 38:20
  Patricia Arango: I don't mind if that one sells first. Right. The one I like can sit there Go and I find it can at look home. At
• 38:26
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I see that. Absolutely Okay. See So, you walked us through your creative process and all your inspirations.
• 38:35
  You've told us about, like, the shows
• 38:37
  Alejandro Hunter: and
• 38:37
  Melissa Shere Beek: how that works. So, how long does it take to make a piece once you get this idea?
• 38:43
  Patricia Arango: I produce the main part of the bracelet or necklace in India. It takes a long time.
• 38:49
  Melissa Shere Beek: It does.
• 38:50
  Patricia Arango: Because you go back and forth with a design, with a little detail, if it is gold, silver, the stone you're choosing. So, one person does the metal, like the gold and silver. Another person does the stone setting. Another person does enamel. So it takes a And long they have another time
• 39:16
  Melissa Shere Beek: How long? Months?
• 39:19
  Alejandro Hunter: Months. Months. Easily a month, a piece will take one month No. To
• 39:23
  Patricia Arango: mean, even more than
• 39:25
  Melissa Shere Beek: a month. Really?
• 39:25
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. So, it takes a long time. Also other customers, so they're worrying about And
• 39:30
  Patricia Arango: their timeframe is completely different. Right.
• 39:33
  Alejandro Hunter: So, everything is tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Takes a long But you have to learn how to adjust to that, but it's
• 39:40
  Melissa Shere Beek: Is it difficult to adjust to that?
• 39:42
  Patricia Arango: It takes time.
• 39:43
  Alejandro Hunter: It takes yeah, I would say so.
• 39:45
  Melissa Shere Beek: Because you had this idea, you're excited, you want it, then you wait months.
• 39:48
  Patricia Arango: I've with that. How can this not be ready in this and this? And I said, well then, you do it.
• 39:55
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, do you handle that when it's months down the line and you guys have moved on to something else and you're still waiting Yes. For the How do you handle that?
• 40:04
  Patricia Arango: I think that's the process, so you have to adjust to it and wait for things to happen. You work in other stuff, in pieces that are being made to send to the stores, in more designs for another season, you have to wait.
• 40:22
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, just keep moving forward.
• 40:23
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. Have to work way ahead of time, like the pieces that we're taking to these shows are typically done, mean actually they get done pretty right before the show but ideally you'd design them far in advance because the lead time, like there's no, if your new designs arrive a week before the show, there's no time to adjust, you have to basically take whatever has arrived But yeah, I mean, I guess the issue is mainly when stores have set deadlines because they buy let's say for the holiday season and so if the supplier too, you know, took too long and they receive their order in November, I mean, that's no good for them. It's mainly because we buy for we order for the stores that buy from us and they have set deadlines.
• 41:05
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right. And So you have to work backwards from that to make sure that you get it
• 41:09
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, I mean
• 41:10
  Melissa Shere Beek: way earlier.
• 41:11
  Alejandro Hunter: It's just enough time to deliver for them, but Stressful. Yeah, it's working with Indians.
• 41:16
  Patricia Arango: Usually you're ready for a show two days before.
• 41:20
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. Yeah. All of our things That's are ready
• 41:21
  Patricia Arango: more than that. Yeah.
• 41:22
  Melissa Shere Beek: Wow. So, once you get all of these pieces from wherever you from India or wherever you've ordered them and they're done, how long does it take for you to put them all together to create the piece that you're looking for with the threads and everything? It takes me
• 41:36
  Patricia Arango: a while because the ones that I do with braids, that are we are very known for the braids.
• 41:41
  Melissa Shere Beek: I love your braids.
• 41:42
  Patricia Arango: I like to pick every for every single stone, I like to pick every single thing.
• 41:49
  Melissa Shere Beek: Well, that's what makes it so incredible.
• 41:50
  Patricia Arango: I know, but sometimes Yeah, it's just
• 41:53
  Alejandro Hunter: no, and
• 41:53
  Patricia Arango: it's It's too much.
• 41:54
  Alejandro Hunter: It's hard to standardize because sometimes like to make it more efficient, like, let's say you have, you know, 10 orders for stores and you know that you have these pieces, and they're all new because all the new pieces arrive two days before the show, so you don't know what you're gonna do them with.
• 42:08
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right, you can't preplan that, then you gotta see
• 42:11
  Alejandro Hunter: she wants to see them in person. Yeah,
• 42:13
  Melissa Shere Beek: understand that.
• 42:14
  Alejandro Hunter: They're all like a different length, like the braids are typically, there's like a strand on each side and if you haven't measured them, you don't know how long you have to make the strand, so a lot of the, like, efficiency that you'd like to have can't get done.
• 42:26
  Melissa Shere Beek: Without the window.
• 42:27
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, so. For me, the most important is that the color of the stone matches with the threads.
• 42:33
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right.
• 42:33
  Patricia Arango: So, that's my thing there. Right. And I'm in charge, I do production.
• 42:37
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, you don't want it to clash.
• 42:38
  Patricia Arango: No, I want every color to go with the color of the stone, of what I think goes because
• 42:46
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right, that highlights That makes it for it the the
• 42:47
  Patricia Arango: soul, so it changes. Like, I get tired of seeing the same stone, so I want
• 42:54
  Melissa Shere Beek: To mix up with the To
• 42:55
  Patricia Arango: mix up and to use other stones and other threads, so I have a hard time following rules, like, let's say in
• 43:03
  Melissa Shere Beek: the yeah,
• 43:05
  Patricia Arango: like in the show, I show a blue bracelet with a gray thread. By the time it's going to ship to the store, I wanted to change that gray bread to a more beige bread, and I have to follow one
• 43:22
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, that side was my next question. Are you ever do you ever feel fully finished with a piece or like great artists? No. Because I heard Alejandro say this, you're just never really satisfied, like it's sort of still in You
• 43:35
  Patricia Arango: change all the time. Yeah. And that is so personal. Yeah. What I do is so personal even it's just jewelry.
• 43:43
  No, but that
• 43:43
  Melissa Shere Beek: is is You're wearing it, that's on you, that represents you before you even open up your mouth. Yeah.
• 43:50
  Alejandro Hunter: I like, yeah, it's like the clothing you wear, I mean, it's all like a
• 43:53
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. So, if it stays there long enough, you might do something else, right?
• 43:58
  Alejandro Hunter: Which is not what we don't want that because something will It's so changed
• 44:01
  Melissa Shere Beek: 10 more things.
• 44:02
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, get something for the show, It'll get done. It'll be in the catalog.
• 44:06
  Patricia Arango: So he says,
• 44:07
  Alejandro Hunter: please, Just please, stick to what's on the take picture.
• 44:10
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. That's so funny, I can see that.
• 44:12
  Alejandro Hunter: And most people like the suggestions that she makes
• 44:15
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right.
• 44:15
  Alejandro Hunter: But just for the peace of mind of not having to go back and forth and all that, it just makes Yeah.
• 44:19
  Melissa Shere Beek: But also, you are a great artist. Yeah. And so, I understand the frustration of just wanting that perfection to it, but I feel like you'd never feel you'd achieve that because you're always creating, so you're always changing. Yeah. But the customer, most customers, 80%, 90% of your customers are going through your aesthetic because they're not really sure how you see it, they're seeing it through your vision.
• 44:44
  Patricia Arango: I know, but there's not a lot of people like us.
• 44:47
  Melissa Shere Beek: That's what I'm saying.
• 44:48
  Patricia Arango: Not
• 44:48
  Melissa Shere Beek: a That's what I'm saying. So, you're changing, but unless it's like, this is terrible, but unless it's me coming into your studio saying, oh, want that thread and that thread and that thread and that, most people don't see it that way artistically. And I would say that you're getting confused too, to me honest. Can't exactly. Alejandro, that's a 100% right.
• 45:08
  If you give them too many choices, they can't figure it out for themselves.
• 45:12
  Alejandro Hunter: And you're getting confused because you want to, as like a as like a you want to share your work and you want as many options for I mean, that's like a natural But
• 45:21
  Melissa Shere Beek: most people don't know how to make choices.
• 45:23
  Alejandro Hunter: It becomes you create a problem because Right. They can't choose and then and then they end up I mean, you've been to the studio, you know all the threads and all that,
• 45:31
  Patricia Arango: No. All the for example, if you put me in a bank to do something, I can't. Right.
• 45:40
  Melissa Shere Beek: I mean, I I You got Alejandro for I that end of do the
• 45:43
  Patricia Arango: a thing there. I have trouble doing my checkbook or balancing the checkbook, always. What's the
• 45:52
  Melissa Shere Beek: most difficult thing, I know they're after 05:00, don't talk to me, but what's the most difficult thing for you two to balance when it comes to the creative side and the business side of this?
• 46:02
  Alejandro Hunter: Like between us or things in, like, our own tasks?
• 46:06
  Patricia Arango: No, no,
• 46:06
  Melissa Shere Beek: not between you, but like, just like We the nature of the both have adapted. You have, okay.
• 46:12
  Patricia Arango: I mean, I want to have a business, so I have to adapt to some guidelines and follow that because otherwise it becomes too difficult to
• 46:24
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, like waiting on the stuff to come.
• 46:27
  Patricia Arango: Like sticking to a color that I choose. Yeah.
• 46:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: Okay, that's the creative side.
• 46:32
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. Right. And then he also, he has done the same with I
• 46:37
  Alejandro Hunter: think for me also on the creative side, like I would say that sometimes I've come to appreciate the pieces more, so I've taken a liking to, you know, certain ones versus others, and year after year some customers will stick or or customers will, you know, stick to the same pieces that they always order and you're like, you wanna impose that sort of the new stuff and you want to show customers something different, but, like, it's hard for me to sometimes accept that, that customers have their own
• 47:06
  Melissa Shere Beek: Right, their own aesthetic that they don't want to try and see something new They
• 47:10
  Alejandro Hunter: don't want the new things and it's kind of difficult to yeah, a lot of the people have a very particular style and it's just, you're better off just
• 47:19
  Patricia Arango: Right. No, and it's also, it's important to, because they have to wear something they love. Right. So, that's the most important for us, we have to provide something they are comfortable wearing.
• 47:32
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. Right? Because you want them to keep picking it up. Yeah.
• 47:35
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. For sure.
• 47:35
  Melissa Shere Beek: And you want them to come
• 47:36
  Patricia Arango: back to enjoy it. Yeah. So, it has to be Oh, I'm enjoying. I'm enjoying. Yeah.
• 47:41
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, what's the most fun working together?
• 47:46
  Patricia Arango: Everything is fun. We have the best Yeah.
• 47:49
  Melissa Shere Beek: Love it. Time.
• 47:50
  Patricia Arango: We laugh. We argue, not fight. Argue sometimes, always, we love each other so much. Yeah. That's been the best thing having him close to me, working with me, helping me, and being so mature with so many And now that he's leaving, I'm also so happy that he's following his path.
• 48:19
  Melissa Shere Beek: So, wanna hear about that. What's new on the horizon? You are leaving, right?
• 48:25
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, so I'm
• 48:26
  Melissa Shere Beek: Okay, so tell us.
• 48:27
  Alejandro Hunter: I'm heading to business school in Barcelona, so I'm going to IESA business school.
• 48:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: This is exciting.
• 48:32
  Patricia Arango: So exciting. Yeah.
• 48:34
  Melissa Shere Beek: How did that come about?
• 48:35
  Alejandro Hunter: No. I just look, I've learned a lot in the business and I think I've had an incredible experience, a really unique experience to, like, see I I think I've been very fortunate to see, like, the experiences we had, travel to different places and being, like, at the at the front of, like, a real business that has, a name, a face, and all that. Yes. Think that's but I think I need to kind of expose myself to the greater world and maybe seize things from a different perspective, work under somebody else, and yeah, there's just my you know, I'm kind of limited in my professional experience to what I've learned here, and so I think I need to, you know, expand myself a little bit, she's been also part of that push to kind of go in that direction.
• 49:20
  Melissa Shere Beek: Are you excited too?
• 49:22
  Patricia Arango: I'm so excited. I was the one who pushed him, I mean, nonstop. Yeah. Because your children need to fly Yes. And find their path Yes.
• 49:34
  And learn a lot and discover this world is wonderful, it's big, amazing, too many things to learn to stay with your mom.
• 49:43
  Melissa Shere Beek: But what an incredible foundation you've had. No, definitely That's very really special.
• 49:48
  Alejandro Hunter: Very lucky. I mean, where I've gotten to travel, everything, it's but there's there's a lot out there Yeah. And I think I have to give myself the chance
• 49:55
  Melissa Shere Beek: You're just at the beginning. Yeah. It's gonna be very exciting. Yeah. What do you wish your customers knew?
• 50:01
  Patricia Arango: I know they know how
• 50:03
  Melissa Shere Beek: They know?
• 50:04
  Patricia Arango: They know how much joy has gone in the process of that little piece that you put on your wrist. That you
• 50:12
  Melissa Shere Beek: can So much see love is poured into it. I think you can see it. They think you feel it too. Yeah. Yeah.
• 50:17
  Yeah. Okay. Agree with that. And our okay. So, we already talked about pieces you couldn't part with, which I understand.
• 50:23
  And new coming up is that you're leaving. Yeah. Wow. Okay. And so, what's next for Patricia Rongo Jewelry?
• 50:32
  Patricia Arango: I'm gonna take it one step at a time, and little by little find another path for me, and keep with my business that I love, and we'll see what other things happen.
• 50:49
  Melissa Shere Beek: I love it. I love that you're so open. Have to Yeah, but not everybody is.
• 50:54
  Patricia Arango: No, Melissa, sometimes it's not easy, but the other way doesn't work, doesn't take Yeah, you
• 51:03
  Melissa Shere Beek: not fully living.
• 51:04
  Alejandro Hunter: So, no. I think she would, if she decided to, yeah, she'd get bored of if she decided to just, you know, take classes all day or just go to the
• 51:12
  Patricia Arango: gym, think she'd work.
• 51:13
  Alejandro Hunter: She'd come to the same place as before.
• 51:15
  Patricia Arango: Yeah, I like to be creative. Yeah. I like to work, I like to be independent. Mhmm. I I need to do something productive.
• 51:23
  Yes. So
• 51:24
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yes. I don't see you as a sit around person.
• 51:26
  Alejandro Hunter: No.
• 51:27
  Patricia Arango: No. No. Like, my I have a friend that says that I don't like to hang out. Yes. It's true.
• 51:33
  Melissa Shere Beek: It's true.
• 51:34
  Alejandro Hunter: No. It's
• 51:35
  Patricia Arango: true. I I like to hang out every once in a while. Yes. Right. But that's it.
• 51:40
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, but there's something great for your brain and your body and your heart when you're creating and you're creating something new and different and unique. And that you're continually inspired is incredible.
• 51:52
  Patricia Arango: And I love that other people also benefit from a job that you can offer them.
• 51:58
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, Yeah, really
• 52:01
  Alejandro Hunter: meeting the people in India I think that we work with. Love. You know, are all, like some of them are, the majority of them are very small, like home based sort of businesses and seeing that, you know, if you receive like, I don't know, a lot of orders or whatever, that they have to hire other people that are now employed and
• 52:19
  Melissa Shere Beek: that's incredible, Yeah, that's
• 52:21
  Patricia Arango: and Marta, my right hand, I love that she has learned so much, so
• 52:27
  Melissa Shere Beek: That's amazing.
• 52:28
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah. But I think that it's an interesting opportunity now for the business because we've been around for some years now and I think part of what you part in design, I guess your name and you have to build the foundation and although she's been around for a long time, I think sort of on the stage of going to these shows and getting recognized is like you have to build it little by little we're just now, think building that sort of name of what her brand is.
• 52:54
  Patricia Arango: Right.
• 52:55
  Alejandro Hunter: But think in next
• 52:56
  Patricia Arango: coming He's years is the one that pushed me to be on Yeah. Those big shows and all that.
• 53:00
  Alejandro Hunter: And I think that she
• 53:01
  Melissa Shere Beek: That was great.
• 53:02
  Alejandro Hunter: She works well with that because she can be apprehensive on some things and it's very important to listen to, you know, what her boundaries are.
• 53:10
  Patricia Arango: Right.
• 53:11
  Alejandro Hunter: But I think definitely having someone that can sort of push her a little bit Right. To go to shows
• 53:19
  Melissa Shere Beek: No. I've seen like you guys. I think I think you work so well together, you're such a good balance for each other. You're both creative but in different ways and you both have visions, but you support each other and sort of give each other the push. Yeah.
• 53:31
  I mean, you push her to do new things, and you're pushing him to to fly the nest, and I just feel like it's a great working relationship, and it's a great parent child relationship, I think it's a great creative process that you have together. Yeah. And yeah.
• 53:47
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, yeah.
• 53:48
  Melissa Shere Beek: So I'm so grateful. This is amazing. Did I leave anything out? Is there anything
• 53:52
  Patricia Arango: else You have you want an amazing tell customer. Yeah. You have. Don't tell nice that we here for you.
• 54:00
  Melissa Shere Beek: No, are you kidding me?
• 54:01
  Patricia Arango: I
• 54:01
  Melissa Shere Beek: mean, an amazing You're me, an amazing it's very for you.
• 54:06
  Alejandro Hunter: But you were always very very open and and always
• 54:09
  Patricia Arango: And supportive.
• 54:10
  Alejandro Hunter: Supportive and always
• 54:12
  Patricia Arango: Always.
• 54:12
  Alejandro Hunter: Gave your feedback, like, you know, you're always, yeah, one of the
• 54:17
  Melissa Shere Beek: Well, it's so funny because you always asked me.
• 54:20
  Alejandro Hunter: I did always ask you but people don't often ask
• 54:22
  Melissa Shere Beek: me and I'm a creative person like your mother.
• 54:25
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah.
• 54:25
  Melissa Shere Beek: So she and I see things in a very different way than a lot of people do. Right. So I was always apprehensive because I know how I see things, I know how I like them. I like them raw and unfinished, and I like the uniqueness, I like the imperfection But so to me that's why I gravitated to you because this was this spoke to my heart and my soul, and just the traveling and having each piece mean something. Yeah.
• 54:51
  But when you would ask me these questions, I was brutally honest, but then I would feel so bad because I you know, different audience, different people. So it may not be to what I speak to. I think the beauty of your mom's jewelry is that it speaks to a multitude Absolutely. Of There is something there for every single person. Yeah.
• 55:12
  Because every piece is a different story, has a different history, is inspired by something different. Yeah. So I feel like there's something out there for everybody. Yeah. But, yeah.
• 55:22
  Thank you.
• 55:22
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, thank love you, Alyssa. This.
• 55:24
  Melissa Shere Beek: Okay. So, before I let you go, I do one thing with all my guests called Quickie Questions.
• 55:29
  Alejandro Hunter: Okay. Okay.
• 55:29
  Melissa Shere Beek: The game?
• 55:30
  Alejandro Hunter: Yes.
• 55:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: Okay. Motto that you live by.
• 55:35
  Patricia Arango: Do your best. Okay.
• 55:41
  Alejandro Hunter: I would say, I like that one too.
• 55:43
  Melissa Shere Beek: Do your best?
• 55:44
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 55:44
  Patricia Arango: Do the best that you can.
• 55:45
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah. That you haven't done yet that you want to.
• 55:49
  Patricia Arango: Go to Uzbekistan.
• 55:51
  Melissa Shere Beek: Oh, that's exciting.
• 55:53
  Patricia Arango: Yeah.
• 55:56
  Alejandro Hunter: What do I wanna do? Maybe learn how to ski properly. I think I haven't really done that. Oh, wow. Maybe Barcelona, that's close Oh, So, we'll see.
• 56:05
  I don't know.
• 56:05
  Melissa Shere Beek: Alright. A hidden talent or party trick that you have.
• 56:09
  Patricia Arango: Hidden talent? No, my talents are exposed. I
• 56:14
  Melissa Shere Beek: like that. All my talents are exposed.
• 56:17
  Alejandro Hunter: Yeah, I don't know, hidden talent, what would you I don't know that I have hidden
• 56:20
  Patricia Arango: I think you have a lot of Hidden talents? That maybe Or like
• 56:23
  Alejandro Hunter: a party trick, I don't know that I can like No. Like a card trick or something, I don't know. Hidden talent.
• 56:30
  Patricia Arango: He's like, he's the sweetest uncle in the
• 56:34
  Alejandro Hunter: world. Maybe that, yeah.
• 56:35
  Patricia Arango: That, love that.
• 56:36
  Melissa Shere Beek: Yeah, man. I mean, that's a good talent
• 56:38
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. To A great talent.
• 56:40
  Melissa Shere Beek: Does your mom have a hidden talent that she's not telling us about?
• 56:44
  Alejandro Hunter: What does she she do? She's very supportive, very understanding, she can receive like not venting, but when you come to her, she can be very unbiased, unbiased, like you can Hey, come to her subjective. Yeah, she's very she can listen to you and so I think that's a it's not always easy to do, know?
• 57:09
  Melissa Shere Beek: That's a great skill to be a good listener.
• 57:11
  Alejandro Hunter: She's a very good listener, would say, Absolutely, yeah.
• 57:14
  Melissa Shere Beek: Last one. What's your favorite journey?
• 57:19
  Patricia Arango: The favorite journey. It has to be the present. Yeah. The present.
• 57:25
  Melissa Shere Beek: That's a great answer.
• 57:27
  Patricia Arango: Yeah. Because you love some journeys from the past, you wish you were going to have a lot of good journeys, but the most important one is the present. The one
• 57:37
  Melissa Shere Beek: you're on now. Yeah. I like that. Okay.
• 57:41
  Alejandro Hunter: I don't know, think I don't have such a philosophical journey but I guess going to Bahrain was always very exciting for me because there had been so much anticipation for that and just seeing my mom's name on on I mean, that was that was Yeah. I was so proud, I mean, I feel like sometimes I'm more proud of her than she is.
• 58:00
  Patricia Arango: He is so proud and my Like, husband
• 58:02
  Alejandro Hunter: is seeing that her name is so there, it's Yeah.
• 58:04
  Melissa Shere Beek: That's a huge accomplishment though, that My is
• 58:08
  Alejandro Hunter: dad's definitely her number one fan, mean,
• 58:09
  Patricia Arango: No, dad he's is and yeah, it surprises me.
• 58:14
  Melissa Shere Beek: He picked our Beek Beet for today, so
• 58:17
  Alejandro Hunter: He did, yeah. Right.
• 58:19
  Patricia Arango: That was a good one, we'll have
• 58:20
  Melissa Shere Beek: to thank him. Well, I'm really honored that you both were here today. I know everybody comes here a little apprehensive about what to expect, but I hope that you enjoyed it. Hope Very much.
• 58:30
  Alejandro Hunter: Yes. Very much.
• 58:30
  Melissa Shere Beek: Cannot wait for everyone to learn more about you guys, and I'm so grateful.
• 58:35
  Alejandro Hunter: Thank you. Thank you, Melissa.
• 58:36
  Patricia Arango: Thank you.
• 58:36
  Melissa Shere Beek: Okay. I'm gonna do my outro and then we'll talk after. To our listeners, thank you so much. So grateful you're here. Keep listening, keep learning, keep laughing, keep up with Beek on being.
• 58:46
  Listen to Beek on being wherever you get your podcasts, all episodes are automatically transcribed. DM us to share thoughts, ideas, or to nominate a guest. A big shout out and a huge thank you to Steven Chen. Woo hoo. At Penthouse Studios.
• 58:59
  Beek on being was recorded at Penthouse Studios and is a proud member of the Penthouse Podcast Network.