The Ring

Since arriving in Quito we've been on the lookout for cheap silver bands to temporarily replace our precious wedding bands which were left back in Europe to avoid losing them in the Pacific Ocean or during one of our snorkelling adventures. 

On our second day in Quito the shop front of a lovely jewellery shop caught my eye in Plaza San Francisco. Bad news was that the shop didn't particularly look "cheap", but the good news was that the jewellery pieces inside all looked stunning. Most of them were silver based and sported modern designs or nature or pre-Columbine inspired designs (with a modern twist).

A few weeks later, during one of my solo expeditions around Quito I went back to the shop. Good thing I did. After spending some time asking all about the pieces, the inspiration, the techniques, etc the lady invited me to go and spend a day at the little studio where all these lovely pieces are hand-crafted.

This is how I got to meet Byron and his lovely team of gold/silversmiths. It was fascinating to see how much patience (and attention to detail!) you have to have when creating such small works of art. On the other hand I was surprised to see how quick the team works. My ring was made in about three hours from beginning to end! There were so many processes and steps that by the third step I couldn't remember the first.

I felt really priviledged to have spent some time with such lovely talented people and if I could I would have bought half of the shop's stock. Have a look at the collection here:
http://www.ushinajewellery.com/index.html

And here is the final result!