“I make this jewelry with my husband,” the woman donning a vibrant, floating sundress explains as she latches the intricate clasp of a bracelet around my wrist, the green quartz-colored gemstones glinting in the sunlight. “He made this one you’re wearing,” she added, gesturing to a table within the billowing gazebo adorned with cardinal red necklaces, earrings and bracelets. “Those, too. All of our other jewels are sourced internationally, but the red coral is Croatian.”
On the central Adriatic coastline, Trogir is a small island town with a population of just over 10,000. Founded by Greek colonists in the third century, the city has preserved its patchworked identity of Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque architecture, its cobbled streets and winding alleyways firmly intact.
But it’s not just the municipality that has remained unchanged through the centuries: So have the trades of the town. Welders, musicians, designers and jewelers—like the one I met who’s set up shop on the waterfront—have lived and traded in the region for centuries, contributing to Trogir’s enduring tradition of craft and trade work.
