Meet Anya Chang-DePuy | Silversmith

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anya Chang-DePuy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anya, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve been very fortunate in my life to follow certain threads or passions that organically grow and unfold into being. That is true of my metalsmithing business: WabiSabi Silver. When I first started smithing I was already working a job that brought me a lot of joy- I was leading experiential educational programs around the world and in the wilderness for youth and young adults. Pretty cool job, I know! But I’ve always been a crafter at heart and love the tangibility of creating something beautiful with my own two hands. So in-between leading programs I spent my time learning the art of silversmithing. After mainly being on the road and abroad for the better part of 10 years, I began to feel called to ground into home and community more which happened to coincide with my deepening love for silversmithing! I started prioritizing time at my smithing bench, slowly built a following on Instagram and eventually really found my own voice in the craft. Creating my own business happened to be the perfect fit for my lifestyle after I transitioned out of leading programs because it allowed me the flexibility to move with different life priorities as they shift and change while still feeding my creative heart and my need to contribute to the beauty-making of this world in a meaningful way.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
From a very young age I loved creating things with my hands. I would make friendship bracelets, kites, I even made an entire replica of the Monopoly board game (don’t ask me why)! So it is not entirely surprising that I have ended up in a career of creating art. I am a metalsmith who loves to work with recycled and reclaimed silver and gold. I just learned the process of reclaiming old, unused metals in order to create something new and it’s both a fun and laborious process. I also spend a lot of time making sure the stones I use are being sourced in an ethical way. Both ethical for humans, but also for the Earth. Although I am not a business-oriented person (most of us artists aren’t!), I think I have made it through the challenges of building and owning a small business because of my pure love for the craft. It still blows my mind that I can take a collection of different raw materials and turn them into a piece of wearable art, mostly through the power of fire. How cool! My business feeds me as much as I feed it and in that way, as long as I keep giving it love, it grows and flourishes.

I tend to my craft, business and life in very similar ways. I value living in harmony and mutual relationship with all of life. This means that I built a smithing studio out of natural materials: strawbale walls, and earthen plasters for my walls and my floor. My studio is off-grid so I have a small solar-system to power my tools. My partner and I live in a traditional Mongolian yurt on shared land that is home to a small community of people. We are all working towards creating an educational center for natural building, permaculture design and living mindfully and compassionately. I spend a lot of time building relationship with the land we steward and it is often through that relationship that inspiration for my craft flows. So my art feels like a representation of all of these things that I can wrap into three words: reciprocity, love and connection.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well I live near Durango, CO which is a pretty magical place if you’ve never been! It’s where the mountains meet the desert so we have so much natural beauty to explore! I would first take visitors to hike in the desert in Canyon of the Ancients. It’s a gorgeous hike with all shades of red, orange and yellow in the stone walls that line the trail. If the prickly pear are in bloom, that’s an extra big bonus. To cool off I’d recommend taking a float on the Animas River that cuts through Durango. And for the evening I’d recommend visiting Fenceline Cidery in the small town of Mancos to catch some good live music with all the locals while sipping on a freshly brewed cider. But, of course, if you’re interested in learning about natural building or doing a meditation retreat, you can come visit us at Windhorse Village in Hesperus!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to shout out my first silversmtihing teacher, Golak, who was incredibly generous and patient with me as I learned the craft in a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas in India. A fellow traveller introduced me to him and in my first 4 hour class, squeezed into a tiny space sitting on the floor with 2 other students, I feel in love with the magic of the craft. I also want to shoutout Bhavani Maki, my dear yoga teacher who reminds me time and time again to live a full-hearted life and to not take myself or my work too seriously.

Website: https://wabisabisilver.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wabisabi_silver/

Image Credits
Tom Skelton