Mariana Schwedt Vellano is a jewelry maker based in Montevideo, Uruguay, and the founder of Tiska Joyas, a studio she has run since 2016. Trained in Industrial Design before turning to the intimacy of handcraft, Mariana has built a practice rooted in the belief that small objects carry enormous meaning; as talismans, as memories, as connections between generations.
In 2020, her work earned her one of Uruguay’s National Craft Awards.
I first came across her work through the Jump Jewellery Contest, organized by Santiago Dominguez as part of Maratón Joyero, a broader platform for exchange within Uruguay’s jewellery community. Her pieces immediately stood out: a quiet confidence in material and concept that felt both deeply personal and universally resonant. Before sitting down for this interview, we had the chance to speak over a video call; a conversation that only deepened my curiosity about her process, her relationship with paper, and the way she thinks about the objects she puts into the world.
E: Paper is a fragile, everyday material, often destined to disappear. What led you to choose it as your primary material for creating objects that have historically aspired to permanence and durability?
M: For many years, from childhood, I attended a plastic arts workshop that shaped my path into the world of art. There, I discovered paper as a material for my first pieces, using the cartapesta technique, layering strips of newspaper with glue or paste over a clay mold I had made myself. After drying, the mold was removed, leaving a rigid yet lightweight “shell” in its shape.
I went on to create mobiles with trapeze artist figures that, with the wind and movement, came alive with grace. I also made animals, mice, cats, dogs, which I painted in vibrant colours. It was one of my favourite techniques, because I was fascinated by how something as soft and fragile as paper could become a rigid, resistant material.
As a woman who continues to love creating with her hands, designing and shaping these “small wearable works of art”, and having decided to enter the National Craftsmanship Award for the first time in 2020, I wanted to create a piece of jewellery that truly represented me. This led me to unite my childhood with my present, and with the path I wish to continue walking as an artist.
That is how I came to use paper, a material so deeply meaningful to me, drawing inspiration from the cartapesta technique and combining it with the noble metals so central to my jewellery. I allowed myself to look beyond and reimagine this everyday material, creating something entirely new: starting from magazines and newspapers and transforming them completely into something rigid, resistant, and waterproof, a material whose value is further enhanced when paired with metals such as silver and/or copper.
E: You have described jewellery as an amulet or talisman. Do you feel that your pieces absorb the stories, energies, or time of those who wear them?
M: This is one of my favourite aspects of my jewellery: it is meant to transcend generations, not only through the durability of the metals I use, but through the value embedded in each piece. Whoever wears them reimagines them and infuses them with their own energy, transforming them into something special, like amulets. They become moments, emotions, and memories that go beyond the material, they are connection.
I like to say that what makes a piece of jewellery truly unique is the person who wears it. The piece shifts with one’s personality, clothing, skin tone, body shape, and way of moving.
I have had clients bring me jewellery inherited from their grandmothers or family members, pieces of deep sentimental value that they want to wear, but with which they no longer identify in terms of design. Together, we create a new design by recycling the metal, keeping intact that essence which matters so much to them.
E: Part of your visual universe comes from fashion magazines, cut, layered, and transformed. What kind of dialogue do you see between the ephemeral nature of fashion and contemporary jewellery?
When creating my pieces, I am guided not by fashion, but by intuition. I find it deeply interesting to use something as fleeting as a fashion magazine to create something that endures, it is a transformative perspective on the throwaway culture of “use and discard.”
Through contemporary jewellery, I reflect my inner world; my personal journeys have been, and continue to be, a profound source of inspiration. Fashion is short-lived, repetitive, hollow, and mass-produced. Contemporary jewellery, on the other hand, reflects its maker and carries human value. Each piece is unique, and whoever chooses it knows and feels this, it is not “just another piece,” it is the piece that will accompany you for a long time.
E: Your practice moves between design, craft, and artistic research. Do you feel closer to any one of these definitions, or do you prefer your work to exist in a fluid, undefined space?
M: I prefer it to be a fluid, undefined space, I would rather not limit myself by fitting into a single definition. My artistic process, while clearly shaped by my training, is always deeply spontaneous. The mind is present, of course, but the heart is the guide. I connect with something very fresh: that enthusiastic young girl who experiments and is always on the verge of discovering something new, and that fills me with life.
E: If your jewellery were interpreted as archives of time, memory, and repeated gestures, what would you hope they convey about you and those who wear them, many years from now?
I consider myself a delicate, sensitive, and joyful woman who values simplicity and the everyday beauty found in the small details that that make life a joy. I’d like my pieces to convey precisely that: the beauty of the subtle, and the details that transform the whole and make it more beautiful.
I want those who choose my jewellery to feel comfortable and accompanied, to appreciate their own essential beauty beyond the piece itself, understanding that the jewel only enhances what one already is.
