Inside the Artist’s Studio: MMPascual

The serpentine streets and gravel alleyways that lead to the MMPascual studio would certainly qualify as Robert Frost’s road less traveled.  The studio is tucked within the folds of a residential neighborhood in one of Mendoza’s affluent suburbs, but not a single street sign nor trail of art scraps exists to signal that artists are hard at work nearby.

For two sisters, Marcela and Marina Pascual, this studio is the culmination of a lifetime’s love of jewelry making.  Today they lead a small team of 5 local artists who create unique pieces with an urban esthetic and materials that are somewhat…unexpected.

“Several years ago we created a full metal line,” Marcela explained, “then we began incorporating textures that come from the Andes Mountain region, textures that have a strong connection to our lives and to our families, to the trips we took to Northern Argentina, the wool hats from Salta, to the ponchos our mothers wrapped us in.”

The tiny scraps of colorful fabric used in the designs aren’t your run of the mill sewing discards.  They are remnants of Aguayo, traditional blankets used in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and parts of southern Brazil.  Unlike ordinary blankets, aguayos follow children from the day they are born, throughout childhood, and well into their adult years. “Aguayos accompany people throughout their lives, some are more than 100 years old and the weave holds all the history of a person’s lifetime,” shared Marina. “When we find the blankets, we try to rescue the bits of fabric that are not damaged and incorporate the metal hardware as a way to frame the textile.”

Though many of the aguayo remnants have weathered numerous decades of use, the colors remain vibrant and the fibers intact. Thankfully so, because as a result a piece of Andean culture remains intact along with them.

Marcela shared that, “through the jewelry we feel like we can express a thousand personal things, and then the person that buys the piece – even though she doesn’t know that every fiber is dyed with natural inks, or that every fabric is hand-woven, even though she may not know any of that – she feels curiosity and appreciates its uniqueness.”

The majority of MMPascual’s creations are destined for foreign boutiques and jewelry shops and the hope is that Mendoza will someday create a space for quality artists to display their work in a more public arena.  But for now, the sisters enjoy sending their art to foreign shores.  “Suddenly our place in the world is admired by someone else thousands of miles away, through the art that we create and the stories it tells,” said Marcela. But Mendoza travelers who have the right connections are able to spend an afternoon creating a piece of jewelry all their own, in this art studio filled with scraps of history, and alongside MMPascual – a brand that is somehow still managing to fly just beneath the radar.

Our team of highly passionate, skilled trip planners wants to get to know you so we can construct the perfect getaway.  We pull from our large network of Mendoza artists, local winemakers, adventurers, chefs and more to introduce you to a side of Mendoza, Argentina that you won’t see with any other tour agency.

Ready to get started?  Tell us who you are and what you love – and we’ll use that to build your perfect trip!  Click here to get started!