BRANDS TO KNOW: MOTHER SIERRA
MOTHER SIERRA
Addy Daniela Vázquez along with her boyfriend Eli Zloof founded Mother Sierra, a sustainable jewelry company featuring pieces handmade by Wixáritari women of Mexico. The Wixáritari artisans are able to produce jewelry in the comfort of their homes at their own pace and are compensated for the full retail value of their work. Mother Sierra is not only empowering an incredibly talented community of artists but creating a special bond of nature, love, and community with every piece of jewelry created.
SHEER: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
ADDY DANIELA VÁZQUEZ: I am Addy or Atzin, I come from Teziutlán, Puebla. The name of the place is written in Nahuatl and it means “place next to the hill where it hails.” We get a lot of rain most of the year and since I was little I always remembered the air filled with fog. In my state there are six principal ethnic groups (Mixtecos, Nahuas, Otomíes, Tepehuas, Totonacas, and Popolocas). My region is part of the Nahuas group. Each state of Mexico has its own group and they are all different but with some similarities. I was raised there until I moved to another city to attend university. After university, I started traveling a bit but I spent most of my life in my hometown. My great-grandmother spoke Nahuatl but didn't pass it to my grandmother so we didn't get to learn the language, only Spanish.
Teziutlán is a small place but also the second biggest city of Pueblo. There is a lot of commerce here and people from smaller towns come here to sell their products. I think my identity transforms everyday according to where I am, but I think my identity is full of fog, rain, mountains, greens, and hardworking people. My parents are merchants and they work in a market full of colors with a diverse range of foods. I take a big part of that with me everywhere I go. I also think that thanks to those years of staying home and helping my parents run their business, I was inspired to start Mother Sierra.
It's a bit hard to generalize my identity but I feel like a lot of my identity and the appreciation for my culture came from my grandmother and my mom. That feminine power and healer magic we have in Mexico is what makes me believe we have a lot to give to this world.
SHEER: When did you launch Mother Sierra jewelry and what was that process like for you?
ADV: We officially launched MS in January 2020 but started the process four months before that. Since talking to Eli (my boyfriend, also CO of MS) about how beautiful the earrings I always wear were and how people always felt called by them, to talking to producers and starting to learn and do research about the Wixárika history, it's been such a beautiful process. Difficult but filled with a lot of rewards. I've met beautiful and talented people throughout the process.
SHEER: Can you tell us more about the Wixáritari women you work with and how they became the focal point of your brand?
ADV: I've always been a big fan of Wixárika art, culture, and history but I was never close enough to the community since I lived 8 hours away. I met a Wixarika guy at a market in Mexico city and he gifted me a book that talked about his culture. He was also selling his art at that market so we talked for a bit longer and at the end we became friends and he gave me the contact of Yutsitutuya or Olga our biggest producer at the moment. She is only 24 years old and she is super talented. I met her in Mexico City before we starting working together and since then she’s taught me her jewelry-making techniques. We started producing together but we realized it was too much work for both of us and I had to also work on the photography, social media accounts, and so many other things for MS. Eli always took care of marketing, but it was still too much work so we started looking for other girls that were interested in helping us out with the brand. We only found one other woman who also sells at the same market and she is from the Sierra of Nayarit, like Yutsitutuya. They are both from the Sierra but had to leave their hometowns to work and get more money so they went to Mexico City. Now they both have their own businesses but also produce for us. Their families do the same so most of the time the whole family is producing the pieces for us. Through them I see how diverse we are in Mexico between states and groups. I hear their language and it’s so unique. Also their art its so colorful and connected to their gods which gives it a whole different intention. I feel truly grateful to have them in my life.
SHEER: One of the amazing components of Mother Sierra's jewelry-making process is that the Wixáritari artisans are able to create these pieces from the comfort of their homes. How do you sustain your jewelry-making business without using manufacturers or assembly lines and how important is this to your brand mission?
ADV: Since the beginning of our process we didn't want to sell our jewelry in bulk since it’s handmade and takes time. Also, we want our producers to be happy and take their time to work on their own projects. Currently, we are trying to grow our number of producers since fortunately we've been getting more sales so we need more hands on deck.
SHEER: In what ways does nature play an integral role in the designs of your jewelry pieces and the fabric of your brand DNA?
ADV: I think nature is the main inspiration for humans in all ways. It's all around us. It's what we see and we create according to what we see. I see nature as a mirror, especially in flowers. I feel like they have a huge feminine power that women have too and that's also why we prefer to work with women. We are open to working with guys even though Wixáritari men are more likely to work on other pieces of art like masks or sculptures. The Wixárika culture uses color as a connection with their nature gods which is a huge inspiration for us. I've been learning a lot from them about Wixárika symbols and honestly I've been feeling much more connected to nature. I see myself relating to nature in a totally different way and intention of being in this world.
SHEER: What are some of your favorite pieces on the site currently?
ADV: My favorite pieces currently are the Mandarina earrings from the Sanctities collection, Gizas and Starry Night from the Views collection, Dark Lovers from Animales and the Jade Choker :)
SHEER: How do you maintain your creative vision while also managing your own business?
ADV: It’s all possible thanks to my team. Right now we are six people with different roles who try to focus on what each person needs. Having an amazing and hardworking team helps me to focus on the creative side. At first it was really difficult to focus because the work was overwhelming but thanks to our customers we've been able to grow and have a beautiful team.
“The Wixárika culture uses color as a connection with their nature gods which is a huge inspiration for us. I’ve been learning a lot from them about Wixárika symbols and honestly I’ve been feeling much more connected to nature. I see myself relating to nature in a totally different way and intention of being in this world.”
SHEER: What is a golden piece of advice you wish someone would have told you when first starting your business?
ADV: Absorb everything. Listen to what others have to say—friends, family, experts, even yourself. Keep it simple, don't complicate things too much.
SHEER: How would you like to see Mother Sierra evolve for the future?
ADV: I would like to see it stronger, sustainable for everyone who works on this, and probably collaborating with more Mexican artisans and artists.
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Photography by Nabila Wirakusumah
I first stumbled across Nia Winslow’s work, totally by accident, and there was a piece titled “Secret Keeper” which I couldn’t believe was entirely paper because of the intricacies and detailing of the bobos and barrettes that took me back to my childhood. While digging deeper into her catalog I was shocked to realize her art is entirely collage and paper-based. The level of detail and intention behind her work is so incredibly impressive and even more so once I learned she was self-taught and only started making art in 2019!! Nia’s collages connect the Black and African diaspora by portraying our shared experiences from the seemingly mundane to the more poetic while simultaneously using unique strips of paper to also highlight we are not a monolith and to honor our diverse range of cultures.