The Melding of Indigenous and Spanish Colonial Design

Cusco is home to master artisans Sonia and Hilda Cachi, who, along with a creative workshop split almost evenly between men and women, create designs with fantastic detail. Their pieces feature traditional Andean Baroque designs on pins, tupus, earrings, rings, necklaces, and reliquaries featuring miniature paintings. Each piece of jewelry produced by Cachi and her team is handmade, using pure silver and natural stones from regional suppliers. Cachi’s first teacher in this precise and elegant style of jewelry design was her father Don Gregorio Cachi Palomino, a celebrated master silver worker. “I grew up by his side in the workshop,” she says, “among tools, blows of hammers and fire: my works are part of my identity and so I always try to integrate it into everything I make.”

Archeological excavations show that some of the forms still made today, such as shawl pins, date back nearly 2,500 years. Cachi, who originally wanted to become an economist, brings an entrepreneurial vision to her work, introducing new techniques that result in higher-quality work and greater productivity while still maintaining traditional designs.

“My goal is to show in each piece the richness, beauty, and identity of my people,” Hilda Cachi explains. “Each item has a bit of history, a fragment of knowledge and tradition.” Thanks to her innovative take on South American jewelry design traditions, Cachi is represented in the Smithsonian Institution’s collection and is a UNESCO Award of Excellence Winner.