Arequipa’s Breath-taking Artisans Offer Handcrafted Jewelry and More

Arequipa is rapidly becoming the cultural center of Peru’s southern regions, and with the skill and beauty of the crafts which artisans local to the region produce, it certainly is no surprise. The region’s capital, also called Arequipa, boasts the second most populated city in Peru, nestled deep into the Andes mountains. The local workshops are filled with the productions of skilled craftsmen who pass down secrets through generations of family members in the arts of metal working, jewelry making, and pottery. The Inka native culture has been renowned for hundreds of years for the fantastic and beautiful jewelry they are able to make out of local materials and with the skill of their own hands.

The ceramic production and pottery alone has been the subject of scholarly and professional papers about the craftsmanship and economy of the region. Peruvian local artists and “micro entrepreneurs” have exported more than 694 thousand dollars in textiles, handicrafts, handcrafted jewelry, and other artistic goods since the installing of Peru’s “Easy Export” system that happened in the late summer of 2007. The world wide demand for the goods and crafts of the region has been absolutely enormous as the local artisan’s skill and centuries old techniques are beginning to come forward onto the global stage. It seems that the world is finally learning what the Spanish and Peru’s surrounding neighbors have known for years, that the mountainous regions of Arequipa have an unrivaled artistry to rely on.