Waning Days In Peru-Communique’
It is a ploy, because it weighs one thousand ounces and we can not lift it!
I reflect on my four decades as a Leathersmith at the Buffalo Billfold Company and realize that he has spent the same amount of time as a silversmith. We both have pursued ancient artisanship. We have both trusted in craftsman’s way of life, command over materials, tools, processes that keep alive the pride in cottage industries of the Americas. This is precisely why we share such a common bond.
We tour the factory from floor to floor. His sons are production managers and international sales managers, daughter Marcy returns home to Peru to design new jewelry for the company. It is detailed work that all starts with professional drawings, weights, measures of each project. This assures that when she has left Peru the attention to detail will be observed by the many artisans that will create the final products.
We are introduced to life long dedicated employees, they work in the factory by smelting & drawing the silver into products unimaginable. Women are soldiering silver chain, link by link.
They emboss and deboss the flat panels of silver, they draw the delicate silver wire into chain. All of this is done by simple machinery and all by the hand of man (women also). At the end of the day sweeping and dusting catches the excess silver and it is smelted back into the products that grace the showrooms throughout Lima and the world.
When the tour is nearly over we are given privilege to the exclusive showroom. This room displays many of the products that are currently in production and also many one of a kind pieces. As we enter the room we encounter a near legendary piece of work by their company.
They were commissioned by the government of Peru for the Queen of Spain (upon her specific request). The Queen had inquired if silver craftsmanship was practiced in Peru as it was in past centuries? The result was a four by eight foot panel produced by Alphonzo and Delapina Silver Factory. The Queen was overcome by the craftsmanship. Delapina Silversmithing has earned a point of pride throughout the America’s and beyond. We were beholden to have had the opportunity to tour this place of historic silversmithing, silversmithing that has endured the ages.
Bill Keitel