BEHIND GAUCHO GOODS
Gaucho Goods was inspired by my fashionista of a grandmother, Fernanda, and my Argentine roots. In my free time you can find me spending an afternoon with her, an old Telenovela hums in the background while she sips on Yerba Mate and we sift through boxes of old photographs together.
I love watching the progression of the old cars my Grandpa owned and how my Grandmas fashion (& hairstyles) transitioned through the years. But mostly I love the photos of their many road trips to Las Vegas and Yosemite with their little family. She tells me stories about how her and my grandfather came here and built a life together as I sit in awe of how they got married over the phone, 15,000 miles apart to be able to start a life together in Southern California. It’s because of their sacrifice that my family is here today and I’m forever grateful for that.
Even though they left their country, their traditions remained. The Saturday Asados, the hours together in the kitchen making empanadas from scratch, the afternoons spent on our knees screaming GOOOOOAAAAAL every time the World Cup comes around…those are just some of the beautiful things that have made me embrace my culture.
My Grandpa Juan passed away when I was a baby, but I think about him everyday because of the impact he made on our family. I think wanting to know the person that my family loves so much is what sparked my love for nostalgia, and why I’m an old soul… I get to know the music he loved by looking through his record collection and I’m reminded of him when an old sticker of his slips out of one of our photo albums. I see his love for Jesus in the little fish he used to make out of wood scraps from his furniture company to handout to people sitting on my moms shelf. The way a photo or a jacket or a scent can bring you back to a moment in time…it’s taught me that everything has a history and I can’t wait to bring more pieces to life and give them a chance at a new story to tell.
-Dedicated to my sweet grandparents, Juan & Fernanda-