Our Story

Some things are inherited. Others are forged.

At Bacata Jewelry, everything we make carries both.

THE BEGINNING — BOGOTÁ, 1890s

It begins with a man named Luis Enrique García Ronderos — musician, poet, and goldsmith. In the late 19th century, in the heart of what the Muisca people called Bacatá — the city the world would come to know as Bogotá — he worked gold with his hands and music with his soul.

He composed boleros that still carry his name. And with those same hands, he forged the cross that crowns the altar of the Iglesia de La Veracruz — one of Bogotá's oldest and most sacred churches. A cross that has stood for over a century. A cross that still stands today.

That is where this story begins.

THE FAMILY — AV. JIMÉNEZ CON CARRERA 10, BOGOTÁ

His legacy passed to his son, and then to his grandson — Luis Enrique García Nieto. — who in 1955 opened Joyería y Relojería Luis Enrique García N. e Hijos on Avenida Jiménez, steps from the historic center of Bogotá, and a second location facing the grand Estación de la Sabana.

For decades, the García family occupied two of Bogotá's most iconic addresses, crafting and selling fine jewelry and timepieces to generations of Colombian families. Today, from the second floor of the historic Edificio San Jorge, the family continues — supplying metals, tools, and materials to the finest jewelry designers and ateliers in Colombia.

The craft never stopped. It only evolved.

THE STONES — SOMONDOCO & THE ANDES

On the other side of the family, the story runs just as deep. The Bohorquez family comes from Somondoco — a name that in the ancient Chibcha language of the Muisca means "the lord of the emeralds." It is one of Colombia's most storied emerald-mining regions, nested in the mountains of Boyacá.

From Somondoco to Lenguazaque, from Zipaquirá to Bacatá — this family has lived among emeralds, gold, and the ancient highlands of the Colombian Andes for generations. The stones are not a product. They are a birthright.

BACATA JEWELRY — MINNEAPOLIS, TODAY

My name is Christian BG. I was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and I carry all of this with me.

I did not choose this path — it was placed in my hands before I was born. The gold, the emeralds, the eye for proportion and detail, the understanding that a truly beautiful piece of jewelry is not made quickly or cheaply — all of it was inherited.

Bacata Jewelry exists because I believe the world deserves to know what Colombia is truly capable of. Not the Colombia of headlines — but the Colombia of master goldsmiths, of ancient civilizations who understood beauty, of mountain communities that have spent centuries pulling the world's finest emeralds from the earth.

Every piece we make is handcrafted in Colombia by master artisans. Every emerald is genuine, Colombian, and naturally sourced. Every design carries the symbolism of the Muisca people — the original inhabitants of Bacatá, the civilization that taught the world what it means to work in gold.

We do not cut corners. We do not mass produce. We do not rush.

We make one piece at a time, for one person at a time, the way it has always been done in our family.

Welcome to Bacata Jewelry.

— Christian BG.
Founder, Bacata Jewelry
Minneapolis, Minnesota