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