Una Artesana

I'm Susanne, maker behind Una Artesana. You might also know me as the jewelry designer behind my namesake brand, Susanne Verallo.
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I've always wanted to be a jeweler, as in someone who actually makes jewelry, not just design. I'd planned on taking metal smithing classes last year, but unfortunately couldn't push through because of the pandemic. Then I thought to myself, just because I couldn

't do metal smithing, that didn't mean I couldn't learn alternative jewelry-making techniques. So I started dabbling with the beads I had at home and eventually found out about bead weaving. I taught myself different techniques through video tutorials and started designing my own pieces from there. The Philippines, my home, is an endless source of inspiration to me. While I was teaching myself bead weaving, I was also researching and learning more about our myths and legends. Eventually I brought the two together and started creating pieces inspired by Filipino folklore. That eventually became the first volume of jewelry, titled "Langit".
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Una Artesana has since evolved from personal project to small business. I plan on learning more jewelry-making techniques and telling more of our ancestors' stories through meticulously handcrafted jewelry. Thank you for coming along with me on this journey!

• MATERIAL & TECHNIQUE

For Una Artesana’s first two collections, I explore bead-weaving as a jewelry-making technique with glass beads, the material I had available during lockdown. There are two types of bead-weaving methods: loom weaving (left) and off-loom weaving (right). The method used depends on what the design calls for. All the earrings are done off-loom with a combination of different bead weaving stitches, while the necklaces are done on the loom. Depending on the complexity of the design, it can take anywhere between 2 to 8 hours for me to complete a single piece as everything is done completely by hand.