Swipe through the pages of products on Colombian jewelry designer Paula Mendoza’s feed or shop and you’ll learn straight away that she’s inspired by circles. Every material in her collection is sourced locally in Colombia, from the gold to the emeralds.
Paula Mendoza is a Colombian designer, the founder and creator of brand Paula Mendoza Jewelry, the former first creative director of Cano Jewelry as well as the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Looking for the Masters.
From the beginning, Paula has worked with Colombian artisans to bring her designs to life. It is these artisans that she first started working with that continue to be part of the Paula Mendoza circle – creating an intimate family whose handcrafted work, not only established this brand but has created an ethos of social responsibility for the country of Colombia and added to its richness. Despite her inherent creative drive to design, Paula studied social communications. Realizing this was not the platform she wanted to utilize to express herself, she opens her first Atelier in Bogota, Colombia in 2003. A year later she moves to Washington, DC and establishes private clients where her circular designs quickly gained popularity. With a desire to take her designs to new heights, she studies Jewelry as Sculpture at the Corcoran Art Institute. Because of this course, Paula’s designs become ergonomic and form functioning to the body.
The DNA of Paula’s namesake brand as well as her new ventures are not only symbol for social responsibility but it is also Paula’s outlet to demonstrate that kindness and success are not mutually exclusive. For every endeavor she has undertaken has proven that an entrepreneurial spirit and respect for others can still create art with meaning.