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My name is Edgar Lopez; I was born in Salcedo, Dominican Republic and live there now. Since I can remember I have always been interested in art, design and crafts, and have created lots of things of all sorts with my hands. Definitely, I inherited my skills from my paternal grandmother, who had always been a very creative person. Today I can make all this knowledge of creating jewelry pieces live, I love that process which fills me with excitement.

After studying architecture I have looked for activities that I could turn to my hobby until I realized I liked making jewelry. Then I decided to study art of jewelry design and started learning all the techniques implemented in the best samples of jewelry that could allow me to make adornments with my hands using simple materials; this was ten years ago.

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As a goldsmith and a designer of fashion jewelry and accessories, later I took advanced courses in Altos de Chavon School of Design in my country and in Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City, USA.

About three years ago I tried beadweaving techniques and fell in love with it; since then each my beadwoven piece of jewelry have filled me with happiness. In my creations, I try to mix my "architectural" and jewelry designer's ideas with color vision that my life in a tropical country gives me. That is most likely why my jewelry is so colorful and eclectic.

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I really like lots of colors in my works, especially blue, green and coral. There is always a hint of them in my jewelry. Sometimes I use blends of totally opposite colors, but when they are put together they create a certain harmony. As these colors my favorites, it is not uncommon that the larimar (a stone that is mined only in my country) is one of my lovely gems.

Its color varies from deep blue to sky blue with white spots and some green and my dream is to make a beautiful necklace combining larimar with precious gems like emerald and sapphire, it would be a beautiful combination.

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As a designer, I like to explore different ways to create jewelry. I think I have one specific guideline to make my designs: to focus on details that I strive to give to everything I do. My work is heavily influenced by what I can see on the streets, in nature and fashion, on photographs and paintings. I am a very visual person, but the music also inspires me; the process of design and creation of a piece always starts with listening an opera.

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Another my role in jewelry making and which I also like is a teacher; I provide workshops and teach classes in some design schools in my country. For the last years I have been creating jewelry collections for fashion designers in my and other countries. I also have participated in many fashion events in New York City and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica.

I seriously think the beading is part of me and my each handmade piece is like a new child, so it's pretty hard for me to let my jewelry go to my customers. Though my experience in the beading world is only about 3 years, beaded jewelry designing became my greatest passion.

My gallery on MyLovelyBeads.com

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