Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Beall.
Jonathan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
https://sertodo.com/pages/about?_pos=1&_sid=bfe567e12&_ss=r
Hello, my name is Jonathan Beall and I am the founder of Sertodo Copper.
In the fall of 1997, I started working with Copper in Mexico and selling it throughout the United States from the back of this truck. She was nicknamed ‘El Macho’ from the name on the camper someone had given to me so I’d have a place to sleep and keep my goods dry as I traveled many years and places North and South between the tropic of Cancer and the 49th parallel, East and West between the Pacific and the Atlantic. After many hundreds of thousands of miles, El Macho finally gave up the ghost, but the spirit of that long haul, hard working 7.3 L International Harvester IDI diesel motor still carries our work around the world and into the future.
I apprenticed for 2 years under Maestro Maximo and Maestro Chema in Santa Clara del Cobre located in the Sierra Madres Occidental of Michoacan. This small town has an unbroken tradition of copper work that goes back over 1000 years. After my apprenticeship, I started a workshop in partnership with Maximo’s eldest son Martin. We have grown significantly from that first simple, dirt floor, 2 person workshop. But the commitment to our craft, the commitment to the spirit of our work, and the commitment to all of our families, friends and customers who make Sertodo Copper a reality remains unwavering.
Since 1997, we have been making the highest quality copper goods
made by the master artisans in our shops located
in Austin, Texas and Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacan.
Our products are made to be used, made to look beautiful, and made to last a lifetime.
They are designed to become heirlooms for generations to use and appreciate:
warm patinas, polished shine, entertaining, socializing, cooking, and enjoying
home, family and health.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth roads are boring. And boredom saps the vitality from enjoying the ride. The most consistent challenge throughout this endeavor has been adapting our knowledge and our craft to meet the modern world and continue moving our work and our community into an uncertain future.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I can’t really speak about my work as an individual, and what ‘I’ do. Rather, it’s what WE do. And this work, rather than ‘setting us apart’ from others, binds us together and brings us into communion with the world at large. The tradition of our copper work originated over 1000 years ago in southwestern Mexico and I feel very fortunate to have been able to dive into a current of history that is much bigger than myself, a story that continues to unfold and I am a part of that unfolding as it continues into the future. It’s a beautiful story and has given me a longer vision that’s very much an antidote to short sighted narratives that seem to dominate the problematic forces driving our economy and society.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My mother, sending me off on adventures and receiving me back with love.
Pricing:
- Our copper will be around longer than your bank account
- Money is your vote in capitalism
- We like the votes coming in to support our work
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sertodo.com
- Instagram: sertodo_copper
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sertodocopper/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj4V3Bis1hb3rEsaHi_VHoQ
Image Credits
Jenny Dubin
