We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Irma Guzman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Irma below.

Irma, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I have always loved jewelry especially bold, colorful, eye-catching pieces. I had a couple of necklaces that I bought in Colombia many years ago, and they were really striking, the colors were bright and vivid, they were made with mixed materials including seeds and tagua nuts, in general an outstanding piece handcrafted by Colombian artisans. So every time I wore them I got lots of compliments, and they asked me: “where did you get that necklace?” “how can I get the necklace you have on?”. So, I thought what if I bring some jewelry pieces from Colombia and sell them here?. In a nutshell, I began selling jewelry made in Colombia, but I realized that some of the pieces lacked the “wow” factor. Somehow I needed to fix that little problem and started to take the necklaces apart, and without previous experience in jewelry making, just following my artistic instinct and with God’s help I changed the whole design by mixing colors, adding new materials with different textures but always keeping the artisanal touch. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of a new career in my life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Irma Guzman, I was born and raised in Cartagena, Colombia, a vibrant, colorful, old colonial city located in the shores of the Caribbean Sea. I design a modern interpretation of artisanal jewelry made of natural materials. I am the owner and designer of Irma Guzman Eco Jewelry, which I started 15 years ago, inspired by Colombia, an incredibly biodiverse country, home to a variety of seeds and nuts that form the basis of my jewelry collection. At Irma Guzman Eco Jewelry we strive to make women feel beautiful, happy and unique by wearing our pieces. One thing that I am very proud of, is that I work with artisans in Colombia; they carve, and dye the seeds I use to design my pieces and sometimes they assemble some of my designs and this process doesn’t just get you a pretty new accessory, it creates opportunity and it forges hope.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

It all started when I dismantled some necklaces that I had brought from Colombia. I fell in love with the beautiful process of designing; first I observe the seeds, take a look at their shapes, color, texture and flaws, I “play” with them, it is like they begin “talking” to each other in order to create a beautiful piece of jewelry. I love working with seeds and natural materials in general because I learn from them everyday: I have learned that designing jewelry takes passion, skill and perseverance. It also takes time to learn how to create, just like a seed needs time and care to grow, and bloom. Nature doesn’t hurry to create life, so why would I? Seeds come in different sizes, and shapes and they have flaws, which make them even more interesting and unique. From this perspective, I have learned to accept my flaws as well. Maybe we aren’t so different from these seeds. I began little by little, keychains were my first designs, and I started to sell them to family and friends. I understood that starting a business was something that I could do. Irma Guzman Eco Jewelry was not a product of a carefully prepared business plan. It was something spontaneous, I just realized that people wanted to wear my jewelry, I understood what women wanted to wear and why. Women want to feel beautiful and unique, get many compliments, some of them want to know the story behind the piece, others want to show their elegance, style and personality.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Like any other business, I experienced times when sales were so slow that I wanted to give up. Slow sales are something inevitable, no matter what your strategy is. So my husband and I wanted something that could help us generate revenue even during slow seasons. And we thought maybe it was time to branch out to other categories to keep sales more consistent. So we started another line of jewelry: Pre Columbian Jewelry, which is my golden collection. Pre Columbian Jewelry is very typical from Colombia, and it’s inspired by the beautiful gold work made by ancient indigenous civilizations that once lived in Colombia before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1,492. Most of the original Pre Columbian pieces are displayed at the Museum of Gold in Bogota.
To make this line of jewelry I had to learn to work with semi precious stones that paired with the 24K gold plated pendants create stunning pieces. This strategy was exactly what we needed to boost our sales!
We started another online store where we sell jewelry supplies, nuts and seeds and other natural materials for artists and creative people. And we are currently working on my own website, that will be published very shortly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IrmaGuzmanEcoJewelry?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irmaguzmanecojewelry/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IrmaGuzmanEcojewelry

Image Credits
Photos by Irma Guzman Eco Jewelry