Urcunina Series: 2. Wood and barniz de Pasto (pale green and and yellow). Tatiana Apráez, Colombia, 2022

Circular clasp brooch with silver pin clasp. In the form of a bowl or open ring containing a facetted circular 'leaf', the reverse flat bottomed. All surfaces are covered with barniz de Pasto decoration: the outside pale green on bare polished wood to create a check pattern, the 'leaf' pale green and yellow 'weave' pattern.

The wooden elements were lathe turned in two parts; the 'inner' element was 3D printed. Mopa mopa resin was pigmented with non-toxic dyes containing metallic powder.

Acquired with the support of Tatiana Apráez

Purchased from Tatiana Apráez, as a group of three items: 2023:W.4-2023, W.5-2023, W.6-2023

Tatiana Apráez is a jewellery designer and maker based in Bogotá, Colombia. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Materia Prima jewellery school. Having grown up in the city of San Juan de Pasto in the far SW of the country, she studied Industrial Engineering, and Art Jewellery at the Escola Massana in Barcelona. She made an early decision to incorporate in her own designs the highly specialised barniz de Pasto ‘lacquer’ technique, which developed (from indigenous roots) during the colonial period in Latin America (Viceroyalty of Peru). In 2019 the technique was included in the Representative List of Cultural and Intangible Heritage of Colombia. The numbers of individuals directly involved in the production of barniz de Pasto is very small: about 10 harvesters of the mopa mopa resin, and 36 barnizadores (varnish masters). Wooden artefacts such as boxes, dishes and small carved items continue to be decorated by specialist barnizadores in a few artisanal workshops in San Juan de Pasto.

Barniz de Pasto is not traditionally used for jewellery but before the arrival of the Spanish its key ingredient, mopa mopa resin, was used to create beads and nose rings for adornment, a tradition that Apráez as a jewellery designer and teacher responds to in a deeply personal way. Apráez has worked for eighteen years with Germán Obando, a barniz master in Pasto, to develop ways to apply the unique mopa mopa resin to materials other than wood, including silver, gold, steel, leather, and 3D printed resin; this was challenging because jewellery generally requires hot work, while mopa mopa resin is highly heat sensitive. Apráez produces a commercial range of silver and barniz de Pasto jewellery.

The Urcunina Series is named after the local name for Galeras, an active volcano near San Juan de Pasto which dominates the geography of the region. It comprises pieces created for exhibition, the forms of which are lathe-turned by Apráez herself, with some 3D printed elements. In 2022 Apráez won the Grand Prize of the Jewellery Design Association in Japan (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum) with a trio of brooches from the Urcunina Series. Apráez has written of this series that 'their shapes are a direct reference to the volcano's inner force and its quiet beauty. Its presence as a guardian of the city reminds us of our limitless inner calm to embrace life and move on, with different shades according to our human experience. They highlight the coexistence in the barniz de Pasto technique of ancestral knowledge with contemporary creativity, preserving our cultural inheritance.'

In November 2023 Tatiana Apráez was awarded the Lápiz de Acero Prize in the jewellery category for her Urcunina series, and the Lápiz de Acero Azul prize (joint first prize) for the best Design Project across all categories. The Lápiz de Acero (founded 1997) is a Colombian 'interdisciplinary meeting around design, a celebration of the exercise of designing and an opportunity to reflect on individual and collective work to build a better future.'


Further Reading/References
Frank, Rebekah (2020): ‘Sustainable, Laborious, and Saturated: the very human production process of Mopa-Mopa and Pasto varnish’ in Surface Design Journal (2020), pp. 18-23
Information from the Artesanías de Colombia website (consulted 10/1/2023)

The technique of barniz de Pasto - ‘Pasto varnish’, named after the city of San Juan de Pasto in present day Colombia - developed during the colonial period in Latin America, within the Viceroyalty of Peru. Its key ingredient is a natural resin known locally as mopa mopa, found only in the vicinity. Using traditional techniques, barnizadores (varnishers) obtain very thin sheets of resin film in a variety of colours. The film is cut and heat bonded to wood, producing designs on artefacts such as boxes, dishes and small carved items. The varnish creates a colourful and waterproof surface that can be worked with great intricacy.

Tatiana Apráez works with Germán Obando, a barniz master in Pasto, applying the technique to her jewellery designs in materials other than wood including silver, gold, steel, leather, and 3D printed resin. Barniz de Pasto was not traditionally used for jewellery but before the arrival of the Spanish mopa mopa resin was used to create beads and nose rings for personal adornment, a tradition that Apráez as a jewellery designer and teacher responds to in a deeply personal way.

The Urcunina Series is named after the local name for Galeras, an active volcano near San Juan de Pasto, which dominates the geography of the region. Apráez has written of this series that 'their shapes are a direct reference to the volcano's inner force and its quiet beauty. Its presence as a guardian of the city reminds us of our limitless inner calm to embrace life and move on, with different shades according to our human experience. They highlight the coexistence in the barniz de Pasto technique of ancestral knowledge with contemporary creativity, preserving our cultural inheritance.'

W.5-2023