Beatriz Palacios
Talking with Beatriz, I realize that creativity is everywhere, and it speaks to her in various ways: from the most imaginative to the most technical, from the most emotional to the most rational. This is reflected in her work: versatile pieces that exude and breathe uniqueness, crafted with precise and exquisite technique. Beatriz Palacios is dedicated to bringing beautiful and meaningful things to the world to adorn our bodies and create a statement that not everyone needs to understand or decipher. Her collections are like a great book you can read in each piece of jewelry, in each carefully chosen material, with the highest quality and attention to detail. Her work delights both the eye and the deepest part of our being.
Do you remember when or how your connection with jewelry began?
My connection started more with accessories than with jewelry. As a child, I liked to differentiate myself a bit from others through accessories, and since I couldn’t find things I liked, I started creating them myself. I remember being about fifteen when I picked up some beautiful round-toed red boots from the trash, cut them up, and made a brooch. I’ve always loved antiques and have been a bit of a magpie in that sense; when I see something I like, I keep it, knowing I’ll find a use for it eventually.
Specializing in jewelry was a practical decision. I’ve always loved fashion, but the logistics seemed challenging. The idea of having little boxes with things inside, as in jewelry, was much more appealing. You need to be skilled, have a good eye, and that’s it.
So, when did jewelry start to become significant in your life?
I’ve always been a good student and quite adept at sciences. Although I would have loved to study fashion, I didn’t receive family support for it. I studied mining engineering because the environmental specialty seemed very interesting and it was great. Looking back, I realize that studying such a demanding degree gave me a lot of discipline and structure, complementing my creative mind and providing me with the tools needed to run my own business.
During my studies, I kept creating my accessories, wore them, and people would ask about them, with many wanting to buy them, though I gave away a lot. After finishing my engineering degree, I moved to Dublin, where I made a group of creative friends and saw that one could live from this, and it didn’t have to be just a hobby, as I’d always been told. One of these friends, a fashion stylist who organized an alternative weekend market, offered me a space, and I started working on my pieces. I perfected my methodology until I developed my own system. When I returned to Spain, I knew I wanted to continue creating and professionalize myself, but I had no idea about jewelry. I knew how to put pretty things together, but I wanted to create something from scratch, and that’s jewelry.
So you had to train again. Tell us more about this process.
Upon returning to Spain, I got a job as an engineer with a good schedule and started training in the afternoons with Carla, a girl I met at a market in Madrid. I was fascinated by her jewelry and how she worked with enamels, so I asked her to teach me at my own pace. This went on for two or three years until I received an email from a master jeweler, Tomás. He loved the project but saw that I lacked technical skills and offered to help. Since then, he has been part of the project, which marked the brand’s boom. With him, technical limitations disappeared, and I could design any idea I had while continuing to learn from him as we developed the collections. We’ve been working together for ten years now. He has given me the wings to do what I do today.
Your pieces convey rebellion to me because, despite using materials with classic connotations like pearls, you subvert them. Do you agree?
I agree, and going back to what I mentioned earlier, one of the things that fascinated me about Tomás is that he worked in auction houses abroad, restoring pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries, so he has incredible knowledge. All of this fascinates me. But I wanted to bring it to the present, so using pearls and stones is incredible, but I’m interested in contextualizing it in today’s world and even going a bit further and being avant-garde. I’ve always tried to push the piece to its limit to see what we achieve, and the result is always very interesting.
Some pieces even have a punk vibe, like the Root pieces or the earrings that resemble an industrial piercing (piece No. 2). Is there a connection between your work and this cultural movement?
I was born in ’79, so I experienced the ’80s and early ’90s as a teenager. It’s a time when we absorb a lot, and those years have stayed very integrated into me. Creativity comes from an imaginary world you have, which is shaped by culture, experiences, education, etc. And those years as a teenager were very impactful.
Your jewelry pieces are very powerful objects because, in something very small, you pour a lot of different ideas and styles, from punk to neo-romantic. How do you translate a concept into the final piece?
Yes, and besides, the collections are very different from each other in terms of concept, but the aesthetics are the same. In the end, everything comes from my head, so it is perceived as being from the same designer. I always imagine the collection as if it were an object, a music album where, on one side, there is the final object, and on the other, the story behind the concept, the lyrics, the image… I can’t separate the technical part from the creative one, but if in developing a collection there is something I want to explore a bit more technically, if it fits into the next one, I’ll include it and make the necessary transformations for that idea to fit into the next story. That’s why the pieces are so interconnected, even though independently they have their own story. If you place them on the same table, they are connected, and that’s visible.
Each collection you’ve launched seems like a new chapter of a book. What is the plot that unites all these collections-stories?
There is a lot of subculture; I find it very interesting when something happens in a place and time and affects fashion, art, music, and aesthetics in general. These things click for me. I think that could be the connecting point, the difference of each era throughout the ages.
Could you tell us about the hands that make your jewelry? Tell us a bit about who is part of your workshop.
The pillars of all this are Tomás and me; we are the ones fully immersed in the project, body and soul, and everything else is outsourced. Carmen is a freelancer, works a few hours for me on the technical part of the pieces, and also has her own brand. Then there are the suppliers, many and very good ones. It has taken me a while to build this network of trust, but I am very satisfied. With the newest one, I’ve been working for at least five or six years, and the rest since the beginning. Many people are part of the project who also have other projects.
It’s curious; I think people are much more familiar with the clothing or footwear manufacturing process than with that of jewelry. It’s less known: how the material is worked, the tools, the different processes to obtain a final result, etc.
Yes, but thanks to social media, the algorithm increasingly rewards raw images, showing the work in progress. People love it, and I see it when I have appointments in the workshop, and they marvel at the space. Showing that part of a project has become fashionable.
The artisan’s work often remains behind workshop doors, but certainly, it’s a place where magic happens. What is special about a jeweler’s workshop?
I only know my workshop, and when the technical part meets the creative one, magic happens. Watching Tomás work is incredible; he has been doing this for about fifty years. I don’t know how to summarize it; there are many moments of exhilaration and magic; the workshop is where it all happens.
What is the most important element for you in your creations?
First, it has to excite me and make me feel something. I also look for it to have an innovative component, something not already on the market. Regarding the final product, it has to meet several important elements for me: quality, comfort, and that it looks good and flatters.
Your latest collaboration has been with the clothing brand Marlota. Tell us, how did it come about? How did you work at the intersection of fashion and jewelry?
Mar and I have many friends, acquaintances, and clients in common, and some were telling us that we had to meet. I’m quite a lab rat and don’t usually network, but last year we finally met. She came to the workshop and told me she had wanted to do something with me for a while because she loved how I pushed things to the limit, not being mainstream or edgy. That fine line where the brand is located interested her.
She came looking for a brooch that would integrate well with the clothing and with which she could create drapes. For both of us, versatility and allowing the wearer to reinterpret the piece are important, and also having a surprise factor, in this case, being able to wear it both on clothing as a brooch and on the ear as an earring. I showed her a development I already had, and we adapted it until we found a proposal that fit well with both brands.
What words do you repeat to yourself the most while working?
I couldn’t say just one word. I do what I want; I don’t follow trends or fashions. Inevitably, I follow them because I’m interested, but I do it my way and at my pace, and
