Mario Chaquiras Jewellery

Handcrafted Jewellery made from natural products with a South American influence, designed in Sydney at his Annandale workshop by Mario Jurado. Well known from 23 years in Paddington & Glebe markets.

I am Mario Jurado, I was born in Ecuador and I came to Australia when I was 26 years old. I have been trading with South American craftspeople for more than 30 years. For me this has been like a process of reeducation and love to my own people. I started learning about the colours, designs, materials and techniques of Latin American jewellery when I went to Peru 30 years ago.
I started with beads, because of a dream I had. In my dream I saw thousands of little beads which we call Chaquiras, and I started to play with them and making earrings and necklaces and other pieces. In my dream I also saw my ancestors with ornaments in their hands, ears, noses and neck. When I woke up, I knew that it would be the direction that my life will take.

But I didn’t have money. That morning, my sister from Ecuador rang me and I told her my dream, she offered me some money to help me to make my dream comes true. So, I asked my kids and ex-wife who were visiting Ecuador to go to Peru and find the old man in Cusco, who had the big jar of glass full of beads and buy them for me.

This is how I started to understand my dream of the beads.
Now I am a craftsman, making earrings and other handmade pieces of jewellery, using the beads from my dream. And that is why I call myself MARIO CHAQUIRAS.

The beads I work are each handmade and each is unique in its character. They really are beads for people who love handmade crafts. They are not for everybody, I do understand this. But I love them.