José Luis Ruiz, better known as José Rojo, came to his craft by chance. He was studying Visual Arts at the National University and, during his final semester, enrolled in a jewelry class because he needed to complete elective credits in order to graduate. The encounter was, in his words, “love at first ring.” After managing to make it with the rudimentary equipment of a sculpture studio, he felt a joy and pride that no other technique had ever sparked in him. That was when he realized that if he wanted to transform matter to give form to the ideas swirling in his mind, it would be through jewelry. He decided to study at Sena to strengthen his technical skills, and he fully understood how the discipline worked during his internship at Titi Berrío’s workshop, where she became his teacher. She guided him in refining his technique and showed him how to reach the same result through different formal solutions. Naturally, after the six-month internship, he stayed another six months working for her. Later, he confirmed he had found his path when, in 2019, he won a grant to develop a jewelry project.

José Rojo wonders how to “dress” the landscape—how to take the forms, textures, and materials of a territory and turn them into something wearable. He translates all the details that catch his attention into jewelry through a dedicated workshop practice, because it is through experimentation, through keeping his hands busy, that he finds how to channel his ideas and intuitions.

It all comes from a deep love for the nature that surrounds him. From having grown up between Puerto Berrío, Medellín, and the nearby towns of Antioquia. He remembers those early encounters with nature and relives the happiness of childhood: leaving routine behind during school vacations, being transported to new environments and climates, and watching the mountains, crops, and plains change as they passed by the car window on long drives. Those memories of a happy place stayed with him so strongly that he seeks them carefully in his work. He also treasures the landscapes he saw during the period he lived in Guarne—its warm climate and its pine forests. That was when he began collecting elements he found on his walks through the rural paths: twigs, seeds, leaves, bark, and stones. He would bring them to the workshop, and through sand casting or lost-wax casting, he managed to create metal twigs to assemble into necklaces, or rings with the texture of wood.

Now that he lives in Medellín, he pays close attention to the mountains that, wherever he looks, rise up and embrace the city. He takes their silhouettes and transforms them into jewelry made from sheet metal and wood. He also moves through the city as if he were a tourist seeing it for the first time. He photographs windows, doors, facades, and street details he finds appealing, and later translates those silhouettes into his pieces. It is delicate work—observing his surroundings and honoring the technique. Whenever he can, he returns to making his oak acorn earrings, in which he encases metal pieces within the acorn cap. He gathers them in Santa Elena when the oak trees bear fruit, and the process is so painstaking that out of a hundred acorns he collects, he produces only five pairs of earrings. He must treat the wood to preserve it, and he uses only those in perfect condition. With that same care, he will welcome you into his workshop, where you can take your first jewelry lessons just as he once did: by making a ring. You’ll be surprised by all the steps involved in the process.