Handmade Painted Pinewood and Cold Porcelain Iguana Keychain 'The Little Iguana' Item ID: 2671769857

“My name is Ruth Guevara Vega. I was born in San José in 1971. My family is from a rural area in Guanacaste, made up of 6 siblings and a father and mother. I am the oldest of the sisters and the third daughter of my parents. My childhood was quiet. My father was a teacher and my mother a housewife and later a nursing assistant, both without artistic gifts; but since I was little I have had the ease and skills of the plastic arts.

“As I said before, I have always had a facility with art, since I have been working and in my university career I have dedicated myself to art in one way or another. However, in 2017, due to health problems, I found myself in the need to find another source of income that would give me satisfaction and allow me to survive. It was then, in 2017, that I started my own business working as a designer, administrator and in manager. My first work was a set of recycled bottles with a theme of Costa Rican flora and fauna at the request of a friend from adolescence, who was traveling to the United States and wanted to decorate her house there with the products.

“All my knowledge has been empirical; I am self-taught. I am currently training and learning new techniques and tools to be able to be up to date with the needs of the market. In August 2020, I started working in training and stimulation workshops for people with different disabilities, older adults and children. Art was born in me since I was little; it has always interested me, and I have always had that capacity for creation. Actually, I like many of its expressions--I love singing, dance, sculpture, painting; everything in itself fascinates me. But what attracts me the most is the freedom to create, to do things from my imagination, to take a material or product and to be able to transform it into whatever my mind wants. I have received recognition for my brand, and I am in charge of guaranteeing quality products that are friendly to the environment.

“My materials are mainly natural, such as jícaro (gourds), wood, cabuya, leather, seeds, and cotton fabrics, among others. I have a line of products in which I use recyclable materials such as glass bottles and containers, plastic containers, recycled fabrics, cardboard, and newspaper among many others. For the preparation of the jícaro, it is 100% traditional. It is collected when it is ready to harvest; then they are boiled in water for a period of 40 minutes for large jícaros, or 20 minutes for small jícaros. After this time they are removed from the heat. A hole is made in the upper part and all its pulp is removed with a tool made by hand with a metal rod. Another way to extract the pulp is by splitting the jícaro in half. After all this process, they are washed well and left to dry in the shade. My products contribute to caring for the environment with the use of 100% natural materials, which do not produce waste that pollutes. And secondly, we use only recyclable materials in one of our product lines, so we help with the reuse of material that many people discard. I am mainly inspired by nature, which is the main theme of my products. I love the rustic; it is one of the themes that also inspires me. All my art is beautiful; in all of them I have the challenge of designing from scratch. Each of my pieces is a real challenge because there are no identical ones--when working with mainly natural products, their shapes and sizes will never be the same.

“My main dreams and hopes are to see my children and grandchildren have the best of life. In the workplace I want to see my company positioned and financially stable in the market, opening job opportunities to other people. I want to give training and stimulation to other people, mainly older adults, people with different disabilities and children, and help to form a more inclusive society.”