Today we’d like to introduce you to Lorena Medinilla.
Hi Lorena, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I think I was born with a peculiar eye — for color, for shape, for what is beautiful and what simply isn’t right. Design was always my passion; I couldn’t switch it off if I tried. When I met my husband, Arturo, one of our great joys became traveling to Mexico and drinking in its cultural roots — and nowhere did that speak to me more than in its jewelry. On one of those trips I bought a stone necklace by the renowned sculptor Sergio Bustamante, and on the very same trip I met a humble street artist, someone with real, quiet talent, and bought from him a wired necklace strung with raw local rocks. I felt beautiful and completely myself in both. Those two pieces — one famous, one anonymous, both made by hand — never left me.
We came home to Houston, married, and built a family; Arturo and I have two beautiful boys. For a while everything was harmony. Then life shifted, and out of that turning point I understood that something of my own had to be made. My sister was already working in jewelry, and together we decided to start a company. That was 18 years ago — and it became De Petra.
I chose the name for those rocks I had fallen in love with. In Latin, petra means rock — the same root as Petrus, the foundation, the pillar — and de means “of” or “about.” De Petra: about the rock.
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?
It has not been a smooth road. The hardest chapter came early: Arturo’s parents grew old and unwell, and caring for them meant going back and forth to Mexico. Losing both of them within two years was heavy — and it was out of that grief that I understood something new had to begin. Starting De Petra with two little boys at home who needed all of my attention was its own daily struggle; there were never enough hours. And the work itself is unforgiving: everything I make is one of a kind and entirely by hand, so nothing scales. I can’t reorder a bestseller or hand it to a machine — every piece asks the same time and care, whether it’s a small pin or a major necklace. What carried us through was family and conviction: the belief that something made by one pair of hands still matters, and a husband who chose to build this alongside me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make wearable art — one-of-a-kind jewelry handcrafted entirely by me in Houston. I specialize in bold, sculptural statement pieces: brass lariats, gemstone talismans, hand-crocheted cuffs, and mixed-media necklaces that bring together raw stones, solid brass, Italian leather, silk thread, and pearls. I’m probably best known for my “cosmic eye” talismans — the beaded, all-seeing eye that runs through my necklaces, brooches, and pins — and for a palette drawn from Mexican surrealism and the architecture of Luis Barragán. What sets De Petra apart is simple and uncompromising: every single piece is made once, by hand, and never remade. There are no production runs and no two alike — when you wear a De Petra piece, you are the only person in the world wearing it. I’m proudest that this slow, singular, entirely-handmade way of working has been embraced by Anthropologie, Free People, Kuhl-Linscomb, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — without my ever compromising what makes it mine.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The biggest risk of my life was choosing De Petra. At the turning point in our family, Arturo had a real option on the table: to stay in Mexico, move us all there, and continue the distribution business he had been running. Instead, we chose Houston and we chose this — a brand-new, handmade, one-of-a-kind jewelry company — with two small boys who needed us. Arturo supported that leap completely, devoting himself to our children, to me, and to De Petra. It was not the safe path. But I’ve always believed the real risk in creative work is diluting your vision to please everyone. We bet on the one-of-a-kind instead, and it paid off: when Anthropologie came in and began buying big, Arturo stepped fully into De Petra as our supply-chain manager to run operations, and we grew it together. I would take that risk again without hesitating.
Pricing:
- All pieces are one-of-a-kind and handmade in Houston.
- Prices range from about $200 to $2,500.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.depetra.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/depetra/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/depetraartinjewelry/
- LinkedIn: depetra
