Editor’s Note
This article highlights a fresh, artistic movement emerging from Colombia’s capital, where designers are transforming durable borosilicate glass into unique, handcrafted jewelry. It’s a compelling look at how local innovation is reshaping an entire creative industry.
In a landscape saturated with traditional jewelry, three Colombian brands are carving out a distinct path with a technique as bold as it is poetic: glass jewelry. Glanz, Vitrum, and Vold, projects led by young designers with an experimental vision and artistic sensibility, are redefining contemporary jewelry from Bogotá. The brands work with borosilicate glass, a resistant and malleable material shaped with a torch and fire, allowing them to hand-sculpt each piece like a small work of art. Beyond their visual appeal, these proposals are distinguished by their capacity to convey concepts. These glass jewels are aesthetic statements, carriers of narrative, and a testament to a generation of designers who no longer seek to adapt to the established but to invent new ways of seeing, feeling, and wearing the world.
For Vold, its creator Camila Ortiz found in glass a creative outlet after experiencing work burnout. An international relations graduate with studies in fashion communication, she worked in Madrid, London, and Milan before returning to Colombia during the pandemic.
Vold is characterized by its maximalist design. The pieces are colorful, expressive, and full of intention.
The creative process begins with visual and conceptual research.
Her previous collections have revolved around flowers and the 2000s, exploring forms, colors, and emotions associated with each theme. For Ortiz, glass represents transformation: “Fire can destroy, but it can also shape.” This duality is reflected in her work with borosilicate glass, a material more resistant than common glass, even used in laboratory equipment. Even so, each piece requires special care, like any valuable, handmade object, explains Ortiz.
Sara Franco, a design student at Los Andes, and Juan David Ruiz, an industrial designer from Javeriana, are the creators of Glanz, a brand born from dissatisfaction with the established.
With a focus on the unconventional, the brand seeks to break jewelry schemas and explore new design possibilities. Their work with glass began in 2024, learning from scratch with the help of an expert. Today, she leads the technical and material manipulation part, while he complements with sketches and concepts. The brand stands out for collections with high conceptual content, such as its most recent line inspired by Gothic art and the fusion of silver and glass.
Glanz maintains a hybrid production, with custom pieces and others in stock that have shown constant rotation in the few months the brand has been operating. More than jewels, Sara Franco and Juan Ruiz want to offer pieces loaded with symbolism, developed with rigorous design and a clear brand vision: irreverent, urban, and experimental.
The brand founded by Alejandra Lamprea along with Camilo André Lamprea and Brigitte Castro, was born as a collaborative project between three visual artists with different approaches, united by their passion for artisanal techniques.
The team has been experimenting with this material for 10 years, seven of them specializing in flame-working borosilicate, a complex technique they learned mostly empirically, with the support of artisans and a friend trained in Italy. This self-taught foundation has been key to shaping a unique identity, free from imitations and focused on respect for the craft. Each Vitrum collection starts from a natural or artistic concept. ‘Colors of the Páramo’ is inspired by the high Andean landscape, while ‘Water Mirrors’ originates from the universe of Santa María del Lago. They have also developed capsules influenced by…