Renaissance Woman

With an A-list clientele from Beyoncé to Bad Bunny, jeweler Georgina Trevino is bridging connections between worlds

- Celia Almeida

FOR JEWELER AND contemporary artist Georgina Treviño, who was born in San Diego but raised in Tijuana until the age of 14, being bicultural was once a source of confusion. “You feel like you’re not from there or from here,” she tells Business Traveler. Struggling to find her artistic identity, she took a yearlong leave of absence from college, where she studied painting, jewelry and metalsmithing, to move to Mexico City with family and embed herself in the local art scene. If she hadn’t gone, she says, she “would’ve been another Georgina.” Much of Treviño’s work is a dialogue between worlds: between contemporary and fashion jewelry, between present and Y2K-era references, between the cities she has called home.

This month, Treviño’s art is on display in “La Frontera,” a joint exhibition in Juárez and El Paso comprised of “small metal work and contemporary jewelry that grapples with the experiences and physicality of the U.S.-Mexico border.” Her contribution: 10-4 Compa!, two functional flip phones encased in hand-carved sterling silver pierced with the chains, charms and earrings that adorn much of her work. Visitors to either location are encouraged to pick up the phone to text or call its mate, or use their own device to share their thoughts about the much discussed (and much misunderstood) U.S.-Mexico border region. (She will also present her first solo show this fall at the Embajada gallery in San Juan, Puerto Rico.)