Silverware: rather than work, a vocation
Gabriel Condurso was born in October 1968 in Martinez, Buenos Aires. He is the son of a renowned silversmith and started to work in his father’s workshop as an apprentice. At first he learned how to chisel along with his sister Marcela, and then moved on to forge his own pieces.
His pieces have been sold to private collections all over the world, in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain and China. Today he is the head of the workshop he inherited from his father in Martinez, a suburb of the city of Buenos Aires.
Gabriel says he not only learned a craft from his father but also a vocation that makes sense of his daily existence. Working with silver is an art that requires precision, patience, creativity, good taste, caring for details.
5 products recommended by the artisan
Among the many pieces crafted by Gabriel, we want to highlight some for their elegance and good finish.
A variety of knives
An artisanal knife is never the same as another, precisely because it doesn’t undergo an industrial process. There’s a choice of metal and how the hilt is attached, as well as the forging and filing process. Gabriel creates these pieces with the dedication of an artist.
Silver knives
Silver 925, or sterling silver includes, copper to add the required strength to an object that is used all the time so it will neither bend nor break. It is considered of maximum purity for these uses.
Crafted with silver wire
A knife with a hilt and sheath made of braided sterling silver wire and a 16 cm stainless steel blade with a smooth silver finish. The point of the sheath had the shape of a lyre.
With a deer antler hilt
The hilt, made with red deer antlers finished in sterling silver, shows the solidity of the knife, combined with a stainless steel blade forged to remain unaltered for decades given its hardness and metallic composition. The sheath is rawhide with alpaca details.
Rastras
The rastra is part of a belt that was the final touch of gaucho clothing in the old times. It served by way of a buckle to close the “suspender”, a kind of leather belt decorated with gold and silver coins and medals with a number of pockets to hold valuable objects.
The rastra is a metal plate (silver or gold), of different shapes, usually engraved or fretworked, with the full name of its owner, decorated with artistic designs. Sometimes they carried the name of the farmstead or establishment where the person who wore it was working, proud of doing so.
In this case, Gabriel crafts them with leather and embossed silver, developing an elegant and simple style.
Key rings
The first key rings in history were cords introduced through the holes in the ancient wooden keys; these were worn hanging from the neck or attached to the wrist. On the other hand, ancient Romans modified the designs of their keys using the key itself as a key ring, enlarging the holes so they could attach them to their fingers as a ring.
Gabriel took this object that is today in daily use to turn it into works of art. He made several pieces, with different shapes: from horse heads to flowers or stirrups.
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