Handcrafted Snow Pea Jewelry

Artist Stefano Velaska fled the communist oppression of Czechoslovakia in 1968 at the age of 19 and eventually made his home in the French Quarter. Stefano sells handmade jewelry and other decorated metal works he crafts from found objects. “Everything I make tells the story of this magical place we call New Orleans,” he said. “Most of the metal I use comes from old French Quarter roofs,” he added. “Some almost 150 years old.”