52 | NOVEMBER 10 • 2022
ARTS&LIFE
JEWELRY
I
n February, Matthew Gross and
his wife, Elena, decided they
needed a break from Michigan’s
brutal winter. So they booked a two-
week trip to Mexico.
And that’s where Gross, “a nice
Jewish boy,” jokes that he found
Jesus.
There, in San Miguel de Allende,
about 170 miles from Mexico City,
Gross did, indeed, find Jesus. Jesus
Villaverde Fuentes.
“For years, my customers have
told me about this amazing artist’s
colony in Mexico on a mountain
top, where it’s 75 degrees all year
long,” says Gross, a jewelry designer
whose studio has been based in
Berkley for the past 26 years. “It
sounded too good to be true. So, as
soon as I had the chance, I went.
And they were right; it is a magical
place.”
An adventurous world traveler,
Gross researches each country
beforehand and contacts jewelry
designers, usually through
Instagram, to meet. Always staying
at Airbnbs, the Gross family
maximizes their trips by taking part
in Airbnb Experiences, which are
unique activities hosted by local
experts. While Elena took cooking
and Spanish classes, Matthew took
drawing and saw a listing that
advertised “Make a Ring in a Day.”
He reached out to jeweler Jesus
Villaverde Fuentes who was running
the class and asked to visit Fuentes’
studio.
Gross took a cab outside of the
historical city, along a rubble road,
to Fuentes’ tiny home. Inside the
home was Fuentes’ studio where
he teaches kids and adults about
jewelry making. Jesus, his wife,
Alejandra, and their 1-year-old
daughter, Aliah, tend to their
beautiful garden and grow and sell
produce as an additional source of
income.
“Jesus had horrible tools. I
couldn’t imagine how he was
making jewelry with the tools he
had,” says Gross, who graduated
from the Gemological Institute of
America in Santa Monica, Calif.,
in 1992. “He asked me for help on
a project that needed a special tool
that he would have to take a bus to
go to his friend’s house to borrow —
a whole production for a 10-minute
project.”
Gross promised he would send the
tool to Fuentes once Gross returned
to Michigan. The cost of the tool:
$35.
THE POWER OF NETWORKING
Hearing Fuentes’ incredible story,
Gross’ friend offered to donate a
$1,000 rolling mill, a type of metal-
forming machinery. Gross began
making calls to fellow jewelers and
Matthew Gross brings modern-day
jewelry making to Mexico.
JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER
All That
Glistens
Matthew
Gross