Welcome to Zapata Designs!

My name is Andres and I grew up in La Virginia and Santa Marta, Colombia. I first started making jewelry when I was very young as a part of a family of artisans. In 2006, I moved with my wife, Gini, to Charlottesville, VA, where we now live with our daughter, Isa. I frequently travel to Colombia where I make much of my jewelry using techniques I learned from my family growing up. I use a wide variety of materials in my jewelry, but as you browse through the site you'll see that I really enjoy working with silver, emeralds, fresh water pearls, shells, and seeds from Colombia and the Amazon of South America. I hope you enjoy my work inspired by the beauty of the tropics.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions about the designs, processes, or materials used in my work. I would enjoy hearing from you.

Andres Zapata

Upcoming Events

Spring Craftacular!

Please join me and more than a dozen other local artists for a show of local handmade art.  Proceeds from all sales help support the local charity Shelter for Help in Emergency.

When: Friday May 20th 4-8pm and Saturday May 21st 10am-5pm.

Where:  Open Space
455 Second Street, SE (downtown Charlottesville, next to ACAC)

Other than Saturday May 21st, you can find me every Saturday at  Charlottesville City Market (7am - 12noon)!  

I spent a couple of months this winter in my native Colombia working on new designs and I'll be bringing these to City Market each week over the course of the next several months.  I haven't had time to photograph the new jewelry designs or add them to my website, so I hope you will come by my booth at City Market to take a look or simply to say hello!

Recent Designs

Here are just a few of the things I added to my website in 2010. Enjoy!