Cristina Hurley

Cristina Pabon-Hurley was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Both her parents are musicians, and she was strongly influenced by art and culture beginning at an early age. She was first introduced to metalsmithing when she attended a class in her senior year of high school. Jewelry designer Jeannette Fossas, who is a Rhode Island School of Design Alumnus, conducted the class. Ms. Fossas took Cristina on as an apprentice, and later suggested attending RISD to her. She took the suggestion and graduated from the Jewelry Department there in 1996. After graduation, she moved to New York and worked for a prestigious goldsmithing company for six years, where she refined her fabricating skills constructing high end, one of a kind pieces for the company's many customers. In 2002 Cristina relocated to Massachusetts. She now manages a jewelry design studio in Providence, RI, and fabricates masters and original gold pieces. Cristina also finds time to design and fabricate her own original line of silver and gold jewelry, which she creates in her home. Her influences are architecture, with an emphasis on the Ancient Pyramids of Egypt and Central America, and nature, especially butterflies, flowers, and weather.