Products and Places – Drawing a Bead

“Lose the green, maybe?” Yuliana Erazo suggests to her sister, who’s just left her law practice in Medellín, Colombia, to make jewelry full time. Miller Erazo had texted her a possible palette of tiny square Japanese miyuki beads because Yuliana, who now lives here, wanted her to create a pair of earrings for Design STL. “No, no, it will look nice,” Miller assures her, envisioning the green framing a pale-gold center and that deep contrast warmed by surrounding rings of orange, yellow, and red, all bordered with that same gold. A hammered oval would suspend a small and large hexagon, a design that could have come from the Aztec Empire—yet looks utterly contemporary.

- By Jeannette Cooperman

The Colombian Connection

Yuliana Erazo and her sister collaborate on two continents to create beades jewelry

Yuliana Erazo was in Colombia, coordinating global trade in meat for a multinational company when she agreed to transfer to Chicago—where she fell in love with a colleague who was Dutch and Nepali and living in St. Louis. They decided it made more sense to follow his job and quitting hers gave her the freedom to explore what interested her. Now she sells real estate, which is a part of her family history; her parents did it as a side job. But she’s also landed a side gig of her own, staying up until the wee hours to help her sister, Miller Erazo, start a jewelry company. It’s called Cattleya Handmade, after the orchids they loved as children.

I’M GUESSING IT TOOK A LOT OF COURAGE FOR YOUR SISTER TO STEP BACK FROM HER CORPORATE LAW PRACTICE TO STRING BEADS.