Who's behind Crisattelier?
Hello, I’m Cristina.
I have always felt the need to create with my hands.
I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t learning a new technique or discovering a new way of transforming a material.
I started with macramé when I was very young. Then came charcoal drawing, jewellery making, watercolours, oils, wood burning, sewing, resin, upcycling, Fofuchas, polymer clay, silver...
Each technique taught me something different, but they all had something in common: curiosity, the desire to experiment, and the wish to turn an idea into something I could touch and keep.
For more than thirty years, I was a teacher. I taught Art and English, and I always tried to pass on to my pupils the joy of creating, experimenting and discovering what they were capable of making with their own hands.
About fifteen years ago, I discovered jewellery making.
Since then, it has become a very important part of my creative journey. Working with silver allowed me to bring together many of the things I had always been passionate about: working with my hands, experimenting with different materials and techniques and, above all, creating pieces that have a special meaning for the person who wears them.
Over the years, I have explored different ways of making jewellery. Some pieces are inspired by nature: a leaf, a flower, an animal, a stone with an unusual shape.
Others are born from a personal story: a loved one, a horse, a dog, a landscape, or a moment that someone wants to preserve forever. In these cases, I create personalised jewellery from a story, a memory or even a photograph, transforming what is special to someone into a unique, handmade piece.
And sometimes, I simply come across a material that catches my eye and start imagining what it could become.
That is how Crisattelier was born.
Part of my work involves creating pieces with Sea Glass — small fragments of glass shaped and transformed by the sea over many years, which I collect and turn into new pieces of jewellery.
But the material itself is not what defines my work.
What truly connects all my pieces is the story behind them.
This year, I have begun a new chapter in my life by retiring, but not a new creative chapter. Creating has been part of who I am for many years, and it is still one of the things I enjoy most.
I also continue to share that passion by teaching jewellery making and supporting other people on their own creative journeys. Seeing them discover new possibilities, experiment and manage to create something with their own hands still moves me as much as it did on the very first day.
Every piece of jewellery is handmade, with patience, curiosity and respect for the material and for what it represents.
Because, for me, a piece of jewellery doesn’t have to be simply beautiful.
It has to mean something.
And perhaps that is why, in the end, all my jewellery tells much the same story:
I don’t create jewellery. I preserve stories.
