Carla Arrú – A passionate silversmith

I was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1974. At the age of 19 I was already travelling to South America. Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil were my destinations. Since then I’m closely connected to the cultures of Latin America. Later in 1997 my wanderlust took me to Mexico, a trip that changed my life forever. I learnt to forge silver and work with semi-precious stones and acquired various techniques and skills. Just as craftsmen used to go on the road I learnt the craft from scratch. After my unforgettable trip to Mexico, a country with outstanding artisans, I learnt from blacksmiths and jewelers in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Colombia on my second major trip to Latin America.

Back in Spain, I trained as a jeweler. As I could not find permanent work in Spain, I moved to Costa Rica, where I worked as an artist in Puerto Viejo, Limón, for several years, earning a living for myself and my daughter Samba.

I primarily made creations from shells, stones, wood and silver and sold them at the ‘Feria verde de Aranjuez’ artists’ market.

After a few years of practical work and selling to tourists on the Caribbean coast I tried to sell jewelry internationally in order to improve living conditions. At this time I had expanded my silver forging to semi-precious stones and opals.

„Nature gives us beauties that always fascinate me. You just have to look. This is how beautiful shells and stones, shapes and colours become unique pieces of jewelry that tell real stories.“

Creations by Carla Arrú

Old school craftsmanship

All pieces of jewelry are made exclusively by hand. Shells, river, quartz and volcanic stones are set in 950 silver, complemented with cultured pearls and gemstones such as amber, lapislazuli, onyx, jade, turquoise, moonstone, tiger’s eye and many more. I do love the sea, the nature, the hidden beauty of riverstones and shells and I’m very enthusiastic in mirroring the nature into my work. I take the natural shapes and colours that Mother Nature gives us and turn them into pieces of jewelry. So, each one is unique. Shells and quartz crystals are for me ‘jewels of the sea’.

In my work I follow an old tradition and produce the silver alloy (950) myself. The necklaces and chains are made with brown or black leather straps that reflect my individual style of jewelry. My collection of jewelries on this webpage gives a first glimpse of what I create, but honestly my favorite place is in my workshop forging silver into jewelries which are different from the ones I did before. Repetitions and duplications is not my way, I love one of a kind pieces.