Barbedo Studio is our creative space.
I'm Cri and I am an artisan.
I make handcrafted jewelry using sterling silver, gold, semi-precious and precious stones.
I love the process of having an idea, designing it with wax, or fabricating with metal using fire, tools and experimenting with texture. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and that is also an exciting part of the process.
My passion for art history has taught me to understand the symbolic nature behind a piece of jewelry that embellishes one’s body and expresses one’s personality.
I find inspiration in everything that catches my attention, like art, nature, architecture and people. Jewelry is such an intimate and symbolic object. In one way it is used to express wealth and beauty, and in another way it can be precious beyond its physical value as a meaningful and sentimental object.
I strive to make jewelry that is well made, comfortable to the touch, and I aspire to give the wearer a meaningful connection to my design.
Our studio is in the Berkshires, in Massachusetts.
What a beautiful area! Covered in white during the very cold Winter. Lush greenery, in Spring and Summer. And in the Fall, the hills and mountains look like they are covered with tourmalines.
Gorgeous!
Barbedo Studio is located at:
Norad Mill, 60 Roberts Drive,
Studio 303 in Noth Adams, MA 01247.
We also have a showroom at Douglas Gilbert Art studio, at: Greylock Works, 508 State Rd, North Adams, MA 01247.
Last year, I was delighted to add to the studio the beautiful collections of my sister, Bea Barbedo.
She creates jewelry in the weaving technique using Japanese and Czech glass seed beads (seed bead is a generic term for any small bead), which are highly regarded for their quality, brilliance and uniform shape.
She also uses Austrian Swarovski glass crystals and crystal pearls. The chains and findings are silver, golden, and antique stainless steel.
You can also find in our online shop pieces combined with precious metals and glass beads.
In Europa, you can find her work at Atelier Barbedo.
Bea and I have been artisans since we were little girls.
Our grandmothers, Bebel and Maria, introduced us, at a young age, to knitting and crochet.
As little girls, we also loved playing with dolls; we loved watching and learning from our grandmas how to make little clothing for dress ur dolls; and we could be left alone for hours in our imaginary world.
Soon, we are presenting to you our collection of crochet dolls. These dolls are a combination of our love for the craft, and the intention to preserve the value of playing with dolls, which we believe provides comfort and companionship for a child, and contributes to a child's development from role-playing to language development and social skills. Therefore building confidence and managing emotions.
Also, I have the pleasure of introducing and including my husband’s greeting cards to our line of creative products.
He is an artist and graphic designer who has recently reintroduced his quirky and curious cards to the public. We hope you enjoy them !
His collections will have cards to celebrate various occasions, and others are reproductions of his artwork.
For more of his work, visit www.douglas-gilbert.com