Maria "Mariofe" Gravier Armas:

Ever since I can recall I was surrounded by threads, scissors, sequins, bugle beads and all sorts of great things!  My mother, a teacher, in Cuba, earned a living in America as a seamstress.  My maternal grandmother, raised in the mountains of northern Spain, her “sidekick”, was a wizard with a needle and a spool of thread, a handful of sequins, beads, crystals and anything beautiful that she got her hands on.  To the end, she was embellishing the mundane and transforming it into objects of art that have left part of herself with us.  Watching and learning from her instilled in me a love for hand-crafted, original creations.

Today, I fill that part of my life which is not devoted to my family, by creating pieces which speak highly of who I am and who my clientele is.  My art evokes a past that esteemed beauty in the everyday and reminds us of what can be achieved when individual pieces are painstakingly brought together into wearable works of art.

To my mentors . . .  My mother, all the experienced older ladies which have taught, love all that I do and reassure me daily . . . And especially to my much missed grandmother Mama . . . Thank You.