Antonio Pineda
Born to an old Taxco family in 1919, Antonio Pineda studied painting and sculpture as a child. At the age of fourteen he was accepted as an apprentice of William Spratling at the Taller de Las Delicias. By 1941, he had established his own workshop.
Pineda found great success when the famed American retailer Richard Gump encouraged him to exhibit alongside Margaret De Patta and Georg Jensen at the 1944 California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Gump subsequently purchased the entire collection, which then opened up the American marketplace for Pineda for many years.
By 1956, Pineda was considered one of the most influential Mexican artists. Some of his most famous designs feature the X and O symbols found in Aztec art.
Pineda was the subject of a 2008-09 exhibition at UCLA's Fowler Museum, “Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda,” which traced the evolution of his work through the 1970s. Times art critic Christopher Knight wrote, “The works were individually crafted, individually designed. They made absolutely beautiful use of semiprecious and precious stones. The works that he created were beautifully designed to fit the human body."
Pineda died in 2009 at the age of ninety.
Excerpt from company website.
Photo by Eduardo Patiño Gonzalez, from interview with Gabrielle Stodd
Sources:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/20/local/la-me-antonio-pineda20-2009dec20
http://www.925-1000.com/mx_antonio_marks.html
http://miacarmina.com/designer-spotlight-featuring-antonio-pineda/