A Honduran Gem: How a Family of Jewelers Captured Honduras’ Essence and Identity
In 1926, Alfredo Cantero immigrated from Nicaragua to Honduras. Shoeless and penniless, he repaired watches in street corners. With hard work and a creative vision of Honduran identity, he inspired four generations of designers and manufacturers to bring the family brand Cantero to the forefront of high-end jewelry in Honduras.
“All the children had to work during the summer at the stores,” says Melissa Callejas, granddaughter of Cantero and current designer for Casa de Oro, Cantero’s sister company in the capital city, “I hated working there because I wanted to enjoy my summer instead. I remember playing with clay to make designs and pass the time until it became all I was interested in.” With a newfound passion for design, Callejas drew inspiration from Honduras’ rich history and translated it into several collections that became staples of Casa de Oro over several decades.
“During a trip to Rome, I saw how everyone wore decorated Roman coins as jewelry. This got me into developing a collection inspired in Macacos, the coins used in Central America during the colonization period,” said Callejas.
Other collections such as Mi Tierra and Lencas proved to be more challenging as exact replicas from Honduran art and monuments had to be made. The Mi Tierra collection took two years to bring from concept to market, and the Lencas one took five years.
“Mayas took so long because we had to redesign many different pieces until we landed with a collection that represented our signature elegance and paid tribute to the extinct Lenca tribe,” said Callejas.
Callejas’s primary focus is the design and marketing department, whereas her brother focuses on the business and production side. “We work so well together as a family because everyone has a skill they excel at, and we complement each other. Everyone has different responsibilities and perspectives that collectively make us a stronger business,” said Callejas.
From Macacos to the Lenca tribe, Callejas prides herself on past cultural expeditions around the country, where she would roam around small-town squares in Copan and haciendas deep in the mountains. These same trips inspired Callejas’ daughter, Guila Bennett, to pursue a career in jewelry design at the Savannah College of Art and Design and continue the family tradition.
“My most significant memories with my mother are when we would go to Copan every weekend, and I would watch her take photos of everything she saw,” said Bennett, “The way she views life and sees everything as a source of inspiration has marked my thinking process.”
Bennett is part of the fourth generation of family jewelry makers and hopes to launch her collection in Casa de Oro soon. “Right now, at SCAD, I take things professors teach me as well as things I’ve learned from watching my mother and apply them to my projects,” said Bennett.
One of her biggest interests is using semiprecious stones found in Honduran mines and mountains like opal, onyx, and jade. “I want to highlight Honduras’ beauty and ability to produce high-quality products. It’s about having pride in your country and its history,” said Bennett.
But Bennett isn’t the only young family member with a passion for jewelry and its deeper meaning with identity. Her cousin, Sandra Rosenthal, also grew up watching her mother and aunt run the Cantero store in San Pedro Sula.
“I’ve known I wanted to be a jewelry designer since I was a little girl, and my mom would encourage me to sketch designs all the time,” said Rosenthal.
Currently, Rosenthal is also a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design and launched her first collection in the summer of 2020. During quarantine, Rosenthal decided to take a fresh take on luxury jewelry and experimented with resin and gold leaf. She began selling her collection at the store and offered customized pieces understanding the importance of adding a personal touch.
“Because we were in quarantine, all the social media photoshoots are just me and my cousins modeling my designs and trying to look professional,” said Rosenthal. All the designers in the family have modeled their own designs at one point to connect with their customers and have creative control over their identity within the brand.
Rosenthal loved how her collection expressed her image but still maintained the elegance associated with Cantero’s brand.
“Jewelry has always been a playful and personal creative outlet for me, so I wanted to show my take on designs I grew up around,” said Rosenthal.
But aside from playing with designs, she faced uncertainty as she prepared for the first roll-out, “I didn’t know if my designs were going to be well received. We knew we needed a more affordable collection, but as a first-time designer, I was very nervous and scared that my pieces wouldn’t resonate with our usual customers,” said Rosenthal.
In charge of her own social media promotion, Rosenthal took hours editing and placing her designs on Instagram-worthy backdrops hoping it would draw interest.
Her successful collection is now a permanent part of Cantero’s core collection as it managed to capture a younger audience. “It was overwhelming to see a positive response from new and young customers. My favorite part was working on the customized pieces for the Christmas season and getting tagged in so many Instagram posts,” said Rosenthal.
As she resumes her studies in Savannah, Cantero continues to produce her pieces, and customers eagerly wait for her following summer collection.
During her launch, Rosenthal’s mentor and supporter was her mother, Sandra De Rosenthal, who manages logistics operations in the San Pedro Sula store. During the lockdown, the duo spent quality time, where Rosenthal’s mother taught her the processes behind the designs and how it is an actual business.
“We are a family-owned company, so it was important to me to teach my daughter all she had to know just as my mother taught me and my grandmother taught her,” said De Rosenthal.
De Rosenthal wanted her daughter to get familiarized with customer service and the different revenue streams Cantero has. Divided into two branches, in-house production, and imported brands, they had to adjust during the pandemic and move their operations into social media.
“All of our Instagram posts from the past year were taken by us in our living rooms,” said De Rosenthal, “At first, it was a challenge because we weren’t used to it. But we knew w wanted to create content with new budget-friendly products we received.”
De Rosenthal commented that in the past, they were too caught up in professionalism that they didn’t promote Cantero’s familiar and welcoming roots enough. As the pandemic forced them to take a hands-on approach with social media, she reconnected with her personal love of jewelry.
“The photos reminded me of my teenage years when we were just kids playing around with homemade jewelry and had a special connection to pieces we helped create,” said de Rosenthal, “Jewelry is a sentimental luxury, and when you have a creative family, collections take a more intimate meaning.”
Alongside De Rosenthal, her cousin, Ana Cantero, helps with the economics. Cantero grew up alongside her family, working every afternoon after school in the stores and now focuses on market research. “My team studies trends and feasible market strategies that would generate the most profits,” said Cantero, “during the initial stages of lockdown, we had trouble with suppliers and customs. So, we had to cut half of our staff and focus on building a stronger online presence.” Cantero remembers the tough decision to let people go and how it felt like letting them down.
“Here we are saying we’re a family and promoting solidarity as a company, but then we had to let half of our employees go because we needed to recover financially,” said Cantero, “It was definitely a personal low moment for me.” Thankfully, as the store sales picked back up, all the former employees have resumed their jobs.
With the market slowly regaining its strength, Cantero pushed to diversify their products and services even more.
“A phenomenon we saw in the retail environment was an initial decline of luxury sales at the beginning of the pandemic. But as the market picked up, customers bought more expensive items, and on certain quarters, we had exceeded our quota,” said Cantero.
Currently, one of their strongest revenue streams is the after-sales service shop. In 2020, an influx of customers flocked to their stores wanting their watches repaired because the country’s borders were closed and no other store had proper certifications to order replacement pieces.
“We’ve always offered this service, but during the lockdown, our demand skyrocketed, and it allowed us to separate ourselves from the competition,” said De Rosenthal. Now, watch repair is one of their most popular services, and they’ve fortified themselves as the best watch repair workshop business in the country.
At its core, all family members involved in Cantero and Casa de Oro know that even though jewelry is considered a nonessential item, people tend to develop emotional connections with their pieces. They embrace the ability to creatively represent your country and personal identity through designs that become timeless as they go from one generation to the next.
“It’s an art to be able to understand what you are selling and who you are selling it to. That, you only achieve by experience. We grew up in the stores; we see people come and go, listen to their requests, find out their tastes and their needs,” said De Rosenthal.
