Francisco Rebajes came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1922, when he was just 16. Poor but imaginative, his first sale was of a collection of animals made of tin cans to Juliana Force, the director of the Whitney Museum. In 1939, he had an exhibit at the World's Fair of metal relief wall hangings. By the 1950s, he had his own store on 5th Ave and 37th Street in New york, and sales were brisk, with many stores selling his jewelry. In about 1960 he and his wife moved to Spain, and in the 1970s his emphasis was on sculpture, rather than jewelry. In 1988 his wife died and he had developed Parkinson's which made it difficult for him to work. Medical expenses and the cost of his sculptures set him back so much that he was forced to sell his tools, and that, combined with his wife's death, led to him taking his own life in 1990. (Thanks to Patricia Riveron Lee for this information placed on the modernsilver.com site.) To see more information on this and other jewelry designers, click the "Designer Information" tab at the top of the page.
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