Grady and Karole in the Albuquerque Studio

 

OROPOPO is a husband and wife duo who make jewelry, bags and objects in their Albuquerque studio drawing from the iconography of the American Southwest.

Karole's professional background is in architecture and structural engineering. The Oropopo name is from her birthplace on the coast of Venezuela. Grady is a native of New Mexico, a writer, and literary editor; he has specialized in desert literature and its aesthetics. Together, they refine a narrative that associates site and culture with contemporary technology.

"We have our own relationship to the land and culture and those indefinable qualities that are New Mexico and the Southwest. If we share anything with the creative work done in this region for thousands of years it would be the tradition of artists trying to make beautiful things that convey a sense of the time and place we inhabit."