flowy dress

Mexican artisan Adriana Trejo works in the traditional style of Huichol artistry to design this pendant necklace. A trio of lovely flowers is handcrafted of petite glass beads, centering a rainbow strand that circles the neck.

Contrasting with shimmering blue beads, colorful flowers and rainbows decorate these waterfall earrings from Mexico. Adriana Trejo works in the style of Huichol jewelry to craft the pair by hand with petite glass beads.

Beautiful images from Mexico's Huichol people cover this decorative box by Ana Maria Gonzalez. Crafted of pinewood, it depicts a radiant floral mandala on the lid. Huichol icons decorate the sides, showing the sierra's tall pine trees, flowers, insects and the blue shaman. The artisan works in decoupage to create a petite and colorful chest.

Formed of three blue peyote buds, a lighted candle is radiant in this exquisite nierika, or votive beadwork painting by Kupihaute. A butterfly alights on either side in his composition, which takes the shape of a flower with five wide petals.

The artisan, who writes fluently in the Huichol, Nahuatl, Spanish and English languages, talks about this work in his own words. "The nierika is a mirror that is offered to the sea together with the first corn that has been harvested, in order to renew the cycle of rains that will give life to the next crop cycle. As in most of the ancient cultures of our planet, the candle represents our trajectory between being born and returning. For this reason, even today, during the celebration of our birthday, it is customary to light and blow out as many candles as solar cycles have elapsed. The butterflies and spirals are indicating that existence is energy in permanent transformation between arising from and returning to earth."

The intricate images are formed with tiny seed beads. Kupihuate patiently places them one at a time with a needle made of abalone shell onto a huanacaxtle wood backing. Beeswax is used instead of glue.

The process is totally spontaneous, with no previous sketch or design. It is guided by the artist's unconscious to tell the stories that remain in our collective ancestral memory. He signs his work with the symbol of a butterfly on the reverse side of the nierika.