Product Description
All our copper bracelets are handcrafted the old fashioned way, starting from solid metal wires. The artist, Sergio Lub, uses no plating, no casting and no machine stamping, all industrial techniques that save time, but compromise quality.
The red metal is 99.99% Pure Copper, lead free, the purest available. Copper is one of the friendliest elements as it combines with many others. To find copper this pure in nature is more difficult than finding
pure gold.
The yellow metal is Jeweler's Brass, an alloy of 85% pure copper and 15% pure zinc, both essential minerals worn since prehistoric times by many non-related cultures around the world. Science has already proven that metals such as copper are absorbed through the skin, so besides their beauty, our bracelets can also be considered a time-release source of essential minerals.
How are Handcrafted (annealed) Bracelets different than Machine Made?
A stamping machine applies many tons of pressure on a sheet of copper to stamp a desired shape, intimately deforming the microscopic crystal lattice of the metal, making it rigid and brittle, more “rock like”. A craftsperson making the same pattern by hand will gradually work the copper to its final shape, taking the time to heat the metal repeatedly so the vibrating molecules can realign themselves and relieve the stress produced by the changes made. This carefully executed heating process is called “annealing”. The final result may look alike without a microscope, but it feels much different. Please adjust our bracelets on your wrist. Feel the difference for yourself!
Sergio has traveled through every continent learning his craft. From the Andes to the Himalayas, he met with master craftsmen who taught him ancient metal working techniques and their deep beliefs of wearing metals for health and vitality. An important part of our company mission is to preserve these valuable traditions by incorporating them into his designs. In 1984, while visiting a master Tibetan jeweler in Nepal, near Katmandu, Sergio noticed a beautiful intricate bracelet with a double silver spiral being worn by the old teacher. The master noticed Sergio’s interest and taught him how to make it along with it’s meaning, "During deep meditation, if I feel lost while exploring, I just follow the cord back to myself” he said through an interpreter. In this ancient Tibetan design the double spiral represents the umbilical cord connecting body with soul, and those seeking deeper levels of awareness have traditionally worn it. Sergio preserved the technique in his designs Nepalese Cord, Life’s Spiral and Sherpa’s Rope.
Fifteen years later, in 1999, Sergio had the great honor to work for a week with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at his home in Dharmsala, India. At the farewell encounter Sergio gave to the Dalai Lama one of his Tibetan inspired designs. Afterwards one of the elders who witnessed the offering approached Sergio to ask how he had learned such ancient technique. Sergio told him about his Tibetan teacher in Katmandu to which the elder replied with moist eyes, "I am glad to hear that some of our master craftsmen made it safely to Nepal, the mountain passes are much higher to cross to India and none of our senior jewelers made it here.” Then he timidly asked, “Would you please show the technique to our jewelers?”
Sergio readily agreed and before leaving he passed along the technique and its meaning to two talented young Tibetan jewelers. Later he reflected in his travel diary, “As I explained the design and its purpose to identify those pursuing higher awareness, I myself became conscious of how intimately interconnected we all are and how each of us, through our everyday actions, can help preserve this peaceful culture."