ALEX “BOSTON THE JEWELER” GUITART

From Berlin to Australia and back again. Alex’s small but very successful business ‘Dirty Paradise’ has seen more parts of the world than you or I.  Alex is an incredible businessman who is dedicated purely to his craft. His watch his business crack and burn under the pressures of expansion and has brought it back to earth in a manageable style.  
 
Like many small businesses and those behind them, Alex too has struggled with the means of production in the current day and age. He remains unthreaded in the world of mass production and remains loyal to his craft – custom handmade signet rings. Time and effort are his value, he seamlessly feeds the appetite of those hungry for a unique and quality product.  
 
 
We meet with Alex in his last week left in Australia. His house is in the process of being packed up, but his studio remains open. Situated in a quaint suburban neighborhood, Alex has converted his garage into a space where he can work freely. The walls are covered in his hand drawn flash art & paintings, exhibiting openly the pure talent this man has.  
 
As we sit gathered around his jewelry bench, he explains the process of his delicate and intricate craft, the new age engraving technology and the journey of his life that he has lived.  
 

 
Le Tonic: 
What was it like growing up in Barcelona 
 
Alex: 
I was born in Barcelona and lived there until I was eight and then my parents moved us thirty minutes away. I lived there until I was eighteen. It was a very chilled life - more like living here (Byron Bay). When I was eighteen, I decided to move back to Barcelona - I craved the more hectic life. Not more about the partying but just the fact that there were so many things to do.  
I didn’t know what to do with my life. I studied 3D and special effects for the cinema for five years. But when I started to work in this, I realised it was not my thing. I was working for someone else telling me what I had to do. I didn’t like it. When I was studying, I was making my own projects whilst being taught. I had freedom.  
 
Le Tonic: 
What came first, tattoo or jewellery making? 
 

Alex: 
I have been doing jewellery for six years now. I started tattooing ten months ago. I started here in Australia. I met a guy who was from a studio in Kingscliff, we were talking about life and what we were doing. I showed him a flash on my Instagram that I made for my custom rings. He saw this and asked me if I wanted to start tattooing with him. He told me next Wednesday I'll start. I arrived there, I was so nervous, I had never tattooed in my life, and he told me I would start by tattooing his arm. I had someone guiding me, showing me how to set the machine and how deep to go. It ended up turning out really good! 
 
Le Tonic:  
Is it a similar process to carving rings? 
 
Alex: 

Yes, it's a similar process to engraving. But bigger. It’s totally different working on metal and skin. Metal is hard and skin is super soft, you have to stretch it, you have to be careful how deep you put the needle. Engraving is similar, you have to be careful. There are different techniques. Tattoos are forever, metal you can melt down and start again.  
 
Le Tonic: 

When was the moment when you knew you wanted to start making jewellery? 
 
Alex: 

I realised I didn’t want to work for someone else. I wanted to be my own boss. I moved to Australia when I was 24 - I was a little lost at this time in my life - I did one year in Sydney doing construction. When my visa finished, I went back to Spain and didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was interested in Jewellery, not to make it but to wear it. But I could never find anything I really liked. Someone showed me an Instagram page of a jeweler in Barcelona - he was a pro surfer from Spain but was doing custom rings. I asked him to make me one of a tattoo I have. At this point I was working in a surf\skate shop and every customer would comment on it. That’s when I realised that there was a business here.  
I started to search for courses, but they were two or three years and very expensive. They wanted to teach me everything, but I just wanted to make signet rings. I found a guy who had a jewellery school - he was super open-minded - he wanted to teach me just what I wanted to learn. I started with an introductory course where we would make a ring in two weeks, but on the second day I had finished two of them. He showed me everything I know.  
 
Le Tonic: 
Do people ever point to their tattoos and ask for them in a signet ring? 
 
Alex: 
No other way round. A lot of people bring in a ring when they are coming for a tattoo and want the design on their body.  
 
Le Tonic: 
What else did you learn? 
 
Alex: 
I wanted to learn how to do digital 3D ring designs. I soon realised I prefer to do everything by hand, so I started to draw every design.  
I did a course on engraving. I realised this was my favourite thing to do. We learnt hand engraving, it’s a slow process. We moved onto a machine with a compressor and magnifiers for smaller more detailed engravings. It’s very similar to a tattoo gun. There are not many people using this machine, especially in Spain. This is when my jewellery started to stand out from others. I was doing my own designs but also a lot of custom pieces for people.  
 
Le Tonic: 
So at this point you are still in Barcelona, what made you decide to come back to Australia? 
 
Alex: 
My brand started to expand. There was a point when it got too much for me. I made an Instagram and website and that’s gave me a lot of exposure, a lot of people from all over the country liked my product. People liked what I was doing and that motivated me. I was working by myself for two years and then covid hit. I loved it. I had my studio in Barcelona, I rented a warehouse with my flat and workshop in it. It was my dream place. I spent all day in this place creating; painting, drawing, making all the time. I barely left. During this time, I started to sell more pieces. I guess people's priorities changed; people started to invest their money in different things like $500 rings and not partying or clothing. 
 
I realised I had so much work, more than I could handle myself. I started to employ people. I made the mistake of employing friends. I had someone in production, I had jewelers, someone doing my marketing. This boosted the brand, we were selling a lot and it got hectic. I became a boss, I had to spend all my time managing everything and I was no longer an artist. That is not what I wanted in life. Whilst I was making money, I was also spending a lot of money on salaries and taxes.  
 
My right-hand man got cancer, he was like my business partner. It was a difficult time for everyone. He is okay now, but we were scared. He had a kid six months before he got diagnosed and he wanted to do something for himself and move into interior design. He was managing a lot of things for me, and I had to take over his role and well as mine. It was so much stress and so many problems. It all got too much. I just wanted to go smaller again and make the business manageable for just me to run.  
 
My girlfriend wanted to move to Australia. I didn’t want to go; I had my whole life here. It was at this moment when my brand started to change, it was smaller and made with love, produced by me only. 
I left that all behind. I employed another two jewelers to produce and ship rings for me and I left Spain.  
 

90 per cent of my product is produced in Barcelona and that 10 per cent is me in Australia doing custom rings.  

The plan was to come to Australia for two years but after six months I realised I wanted to be back in Europe. I sold everything, my studio, my house, most of my equipment. I am going to start fresh. My girlfriend loves it here and doesn’t want to come back to Barcelona. 
 
Le Tonic:  
Did your happiness return when you downsized? 
 
Alex: 
Totally, less stress. Being a boss is like having a boss. You have to do things you don’t want to do.  It was hard because they were my friends and I had to step up when things were bad.  
 
Le Tonic: 
How do you feel about mass production jewellery? 
 
Alex: 
I feel like they are doing something totally different go what I am doing. Certain people prefer pieces that are real, artistic and something handmade not mass produced. The world is full of forgery, they are there but I don’t feel like they are my competition. Their prices are cheaper yes, but mine is quality. I respect their way of doing it, but it’s not my way. I chose the hard way and I love it.  
 
Le Tonic 

Do you have any goals and aspirations going back to Barcelona? 
 
Alex: 
My first goal is to open a shop\workshop. You will go into Dirty Paradise shop to buy pieces but also will be able to see through a glass window the production behind it.  
I also have an opportunity now with a friend who has a big jewelry company, one of the reasons why I am going back, he wants me to jump on board with his team. 
 
Le Tonic: 
This doesn't necessarily need to be on the record, but you said that you have recently just started smoking CBD? 
 
Alex: 
Yup. I have been smoking weed since I was sixteen years old. As I got older it started to affect me a bit differently. When I am stoned, I am not self-confident, I think too much now and am less concentrated. Before I could function stoned, I finished a university degree, stoned. If I smoke a task will take me four hours when usually it should only take me two. 
 
Le Tonic:  
Do you think when you are pursuing something that requires you to be on all the time, weed has that opposite effect?  
 
Alex: 
Yeah, lack of confidence and for sure laziness. I am more motivated every morning. I am now doing so much with my day; tattooing, drawing, making. I am learning things so much faster. I generally just feel a lot better.