Flores brooch

The brooch belongs to Magdalenas y Flores, the collection that goes back to when Maite, as a little girl, went with her grandmother to the village bakery to make pastries. Several women would gather there, most of them older, and spend the whole morning kneading amid laughter and jokes.

By the bakery door there was an old-fashioned stool and, on top of it, always a bunch of wildflowers. Maite remembers it full of small and large flowers, all mixed together: like when you walk through the village and come across lots of completely different flowers, each its own size, and somehow it all fits. They don't need to match. It is a little wild, very pretty and very bright.

That is what the brooch is: as if you had picked a couple of flowers from that bunch and put them on, the way people used to, behind your ear or on your lapel. A search for something simple and countryside.

The colours are vibrant for the same reason: a really strong coral that recalls poppies, and the optimism of her grandmother, who always looked on the bright side.

The enamelling combines an opaque base with a slightly more transparent one.

The pistils are raised, in relief. To stop them dripping, a denser catalyst is used: that way the pistil stays perfectly defined without the enamel running, and the piece remains light.

It is made on Calle Alameda, in the Barrio de las Letras, in a workshop you are welcome to visit. If you come by, you will probably see the next one being made.

It has two flowers of different sizes, one 6 cm and one 3 cm across, as if you had picked them from a bunch. Wear it on the lapel of a coat or jacket, the way wildflowers used to be worn. The same flower comes as earrings, a ring, a pendant, a bracelet and a choker.

Protect the enamel from contact with perfume. Keep it dry and stored separately, and avoid putting on scent while wearing it.