{"id":31897,"date":"2014-08-15T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uncommongoods.pro\/?p=31897"},"modified":"2016-07-05T18:24:54","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T22:24:54","slug":"yoga-jewels-studio-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/2014\/yoga-jewels-studio-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Artist’s Studio With Deborah Stotzky and Erwin List Sanchez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Yoga<\/a><\/p>\n

Erwin List Sanchez and Deborah Stotzky<\/a>\u00a0are exactly who you would imagine when you think of partners who design Yoga Jewel Pendants<\/a> for a living : peaceful, positive, and calm.\u00a0After\u00a0only five minutes of chatting with the couple and exploring their\u00a0home, they were no longer just the “Yoga Jewels” designers in my mind, but simply\u00a0Erwin and Deborah.<\/em><\/p>\n

I knew the moment I walked\u00a0down their\u00a0quiet East Village street\u00a0that I was\u00a0about to be welcomed into one of the most charming\u00a0home studios I’ve ever seen. Their street is the\u00a0kind of\u00a0street I\u00a0wished to move to when I\u00a0first thought about moving to New York City ten years ago based on all of the NYC-based movies I watched. (Just to name a few: Manhattan, You’ve Got Mail, and When Harry Met Sally.) And by no surprise, my assumption was proven correct when I stepped into their apartment and found myself gawking\u00a0around as if it were a quaint museum that I\u00a0just\u00a0so happened to run into on a Sunday stroll.<\/em><\/p>\n

I immediately could tell everything that they hung on their walls or displayed on their shelves carried a personal story. “We brought that back from\u00a0Mexico,” “Erwin designed this, actually,” “We took that photo,” and “We found those on the ground. Can you believe it?” were some of the comments Deborah would say when I inquired on an interesting piece. I loved that their studio\u00a0had a memory tucked behind every corner– with their work table\u00a0stationed in the middle of their home —\u00a0 inspiration was always just at an arm’s length.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/a><\/p>\n

How did you come up with the concept of your Yoga Pose Pendants’\u00a0<\/a>design?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Erwin:<\/strong>\u00a0I’m a sculptor and work with\u00a0various materials.\u00a0 Although I’ve always\u00a0made jewelry, in terms of pure sculptures I was more accustomed to working on a much larger scale. \u00a0I’m from Mexico and always had outdoor space to make art.\u00a0 But when I first moved to NYC and into our small, Chelsea apartment, I quickly realized that if \u00a0I wanted to make art, I would have to work on a much smaller scale!\u00a0 That\u2019s how the jewelry idea was born. Deborah practices yoga a lot, so I got the opportunity to see a lot of yoga positions. \u00a0I started to sculpt the poses I observed.<\/p>\n

Deborah:<\/strong> A friend of ours, Saya Hibino<\/a>, who is a beautiful jewelry designer saw some pieces and really encouraged us to make a collection.<\/p>\n

You were a semi-finalist for one of our Jewelry Design Challenges. How did you discover our contest?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> Another friend and extremely talented artist named Jennifer Mahlman is a fan of UncommonGoods and saw the Jewelry Design Challenge advertised.\u00a0 She emailed it to me the day of the entry deadline and we dropped everything to make sure we got our entry in on time!<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/p>\n

Tell us about your journey towards becoming an artist.<\/strong><\/p>\n

E:<\/strong>\u00a0I’ve\u00a0always made art, since I was a kid.\u00a0 And invented things too. \u00a0I would come up with new ideas and try to figure out how to make them.<\/p>\n

D:\u00a0<\/strong>Like a magnetic race car set, at age 5!\u00a0 Art was around him and it became a way for him to express himself.\u00a0 He made clay animals.\u00a0 He loved to walk along the railroad tracks and there he collected hundreds of huge nails from which he made an amazing collection of life size animals. He studied art in Toluca, Mexico<\/a> and then moved to Cozumel, Mexico<\/a> to scuba\u00a0dive.\u00a0 There he made art with found materials like coral, beach wood, horseshoe crab shells \u2013 beautiful work.\u00a0 Nature and animals are subjects that constantly come up in his work.\u00a0 I remember the first piece of jewelry he made for me was a piece of round coral dipped in sterling silver.\u00a0 It was inspired by a full moon. That\u2019s when I fell in love with the guy!<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/p>\n

What freedoms do you experience\u00a0as artists?<\/strong><\/p>\n

E:\u00a0<\/strong>You have the freedom of your mind.<\/p>\n

What does yoga mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> Yoga is like the foundation of my life.\u00a0 From there everything else grows.\u00a0 It hasn’t always been that way, but for about the last 12 years it has.\u00a0 I do yoga as often as I can, daily if possible.\u00a0 And I teach yoga weekly, give yoga retreats in Mexico, and I’m a\u00a0part of a huge yoga community. \u00a0Yoga helps me live my life more in the way I want to live it.\u00a0 When I fall, it helps me get back up.\u00a0 It\u2019s a powerful way to spend some time daily. Also,\u00a0I am not a huge technology lover but surprisingly to me, social media influences me a lot too – between Yoga Jewels and teaching yoga I am connected to so many yogis around the world. \u00a0It is\u00a0 mostly a pretty inspiring community of people, with insightful things to say and amazing photos to share.<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/p>\n

What different techniques and tools do you use when creating your designs at your studio?<\/strong><\/p>\n

E:<\/strong>\u00a0I use the Lost Wax Process<\/a> when creating Yoga Pose Pendants. \u00a0We’re always thinking about different finishes for the pieces and we are starting to set gem stones in our designs as well.<\/p>\n

Can you walk us through the step by step process of creating your Yoga Pose Pendants?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> Sure. \u00a0We usually discuss which poses we think would make a beautiful necklace.\u00a0 Then I \u201dstrike the pose\u201d for Erwin to see it in the flesh. We also look online for photos of beautiful examples of the pose, done correctly with proper alignment and from different angles.\u00a0 Our Lotus Pose was based on a lovely photo of Christie Turlington <\/a>and our Bow Pose was based on a photo of yoga teacher Baron Baptiste<\/a>, who was the very first person I trained with to become a Yoga Instructor.<\/p>\n

Once we have the pose selected and great photos to work from, Erwin begins to sculpt it in wax.\u00a0 We then create a mold and ultimately cast it in various metals.\u00a0 We normally use sterling silver, 14k yellow, and rose gold.\u00a0 Then the pieces are polished or finished in some other way.<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/p>\n

Were you first attempts of making these jewels a success?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0They were a success from the beginning.\u00a0 The first two pieces Erwin made were the Wheel<\/a> and Bow<\/a> poses.\u00a0 When I first saw them completed, I was very moved. They truly capture the grace and strength it takes to do these poses.\u00a0 They have spirit and movement, it is so cool to see people try them on, because when someone finds \u201ctheir pose\u201d it just comes alive on them!<\/p>\n

Where do you find inspiration within your home studio?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> I find inspiration when I teach and practice yoga at home. \u00a0Both Erwin and I are inspired by nature; I think it helps us return to our natural knowing. It’s very uncomplicated. \u00a0It’s hard to connect to nature in NYC – but not impossible. \u00a0We try hard to have a super calm environment and we try to surround ourselves with pretty things that feel organic in some way – shape, tone, texture. \u00a0We love skulls and bones and flowers and pottery. \u00a0And we are both really neat and clean, which goes a long way when you live and work together in a small space!<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/p>\n

\"Studio<\/a><\/p>\n

How do you\u00a0create a work-life balance, not just as a couple and as business partners, but also individually?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D<\/strong>: That’s probably the biggest challenge for us, both as partners and individually.\u00a0Erwin teaches scuba\u00a0diving and is a photographer.\u00a0 I am studying herbs, particularly those that grow in the Northeast of the US.<\/p>\n

The pros of being a couple and business partners is that\u00a0it\u2019s really fun and rewarding and we are an excellent team. The con is that we work a lot!\u00a0 Which I guess really isn’t a con, because we feel really lucky about it all.\u00a0I thought technology was supposed to make things easier! And it does in some ways, but \u00a0it also makes us reachable at all times. \u00a0And our minds are constantly going – new ideas, \u00a0looking at art, receiving new orders – there’s a lot of mind stimulation! \u00a0And that is what we want, of course, but sometimes we need to stop, be present and just be. This area of life, the balance between work and the rest of life is really challenging for us.<\/p>\n

So we go out with our dog, Ella (who fell in love with the UncommonGoods crew when you all met!), and walk along the Hudson River everyday. We try to see the sunset as often as possible. We love to be in the country with Ella as well. And Erwin and I love to travel together.\u00a0 We first met in Mexico and go there often, as Erwin\u2019s family is there.\u00a0 But we are going to Thailand in the fall and I cannot wait!\u00a0 And because it\u2019s summer, if we are in the country on Saturdays, we wake up early and drive around to all the yard sales!\u00a0 We get great stuff!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a yoga fan \u2013 would you recommend Yoga Pose Pendants<\/a>\u00a0to someone?<\/strong><\/p>\n

D:<\/strong> Certain poses I would!\u00a0 From a distance, the Bow Pose appears to be a beautifully sculpted circle until you get up close and see it\u2019s a person doing a Bow Pose!\u00a0 And that pose is really about opening our hearts so it is a great message for everyone.\u00a0 A non-yogi once told me that she wore Bow Pose over her heart to remind herself to live life with an open heart.\u00a0 I thought \u2013 YES!\u00a0 She has totally gotten the deeper meaning of yoga and what we are thinking about with Yoga Jewels!<\/p>\n

Are there any major projects, collaborations, or ideas you\u2019re working on now that you want to talk about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

E:<\/strong> We are constantly working on new ideas for jewelry and sculpture and ways we can use our work to raise money for causes that are important to us like animal conservation.<\/p>\n

\"Yoga<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Take a peek inside Deborah and Erwin’s tranquil home studio and discover how Yoga Pose Pendant designs were created!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":32426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[743],"tags":[910],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31897"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48806,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31897\/revisions\/48806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}