Jesús wanted to become a doctor. But due to life´s circumstances he ended up involved in handicrafts. Because of that dream of getting into operating rooms, he traveled to Cauca. That is where the Faculty of Medicine where he wanted to enroll is located. In 1979, he moved to another city. He started out on his natal Ubaté and ended up facing a completely different landscape to what he was used to. Popayán seemed to be too much for him. He was not able to study there. However, he still tried to find another way to make a living in a place that wasn’t where he was born. He couldn’t return to Cundinamarca and acknowledge defeat. He then traveled to Timbío, where, out of necessity, he approached a craftsman who made screens. He learned the basics of woodwork with him. But, as he saw how Jesús surpassed him at his own craft, he quickly dismissed him. He could not stand competition.

Jesús was lucky to find another carver that continued teaching him. He worked hard and with discipline. His efforts allowed him to be the breadwinner for his wife and first child. He began making shelves and napkin holders and decorated triplex pieces with pyrographed figures of Popayán’s Shrine or Clock Tower. He used to sell these figures in street markets “to pay the rent,” as he recalls. He also made the wooden fruits that were fashionable for so many years. But the desire to make those screens that he had liked so much remained intact, and he did not stop until he learned to carve them to perfection. We can confirm this today without a shadow of doubt. Jesús is one of Colombia’s only artisans to have mastered this art. He succeeded to the point that, in 1996, he won a contest that gave him the Handmade Quality Seal for his own cedar screen. Just look at the screen he called “gardener”: it is filled with detailed flowers, many leaves, and stems of different heights, all hand-cut. When you see it, you can feel the immense amount of work that goes into these pieces, which can take up to 45 days of painstaking workmanship.

To reach this level of expertise, he had to try consistently with a lot of different methods. Today, he is proud to have been in the trade for more than 40 years and speaks fluently of his mastery handling softwoods, all varieties of pine, urapán, guayacán and granadillo. He even worked for some time with coffee wood, always recovering the remains that otherwise would end up in a fire.

It makes him proud of this disciplined trade to know that his workshop has become a school and that he has a boy who is becoming his heir in saw fretwork. He also has taught several girls to carve splendidly. Still, he does the finishing for all of them. As if that were not enough, he also mastered the lathe, and with it he has dedicated himself to recovering the traditional wooden toys that delight people from all ages and backgrounds like yoyos, spinning tops and cocas of all sizes and shapes. Jesús is happy to know that he built his life with “machetazos” and “trancazos”. He even invented the tools and the rustic machines with which he currently works. He feels fulfilled today, and, although his original dream changed, he has been able to fulfill his new dream with joy and satisfaction.