Interview by Susan Barzallo
Tamara Castagnaro makes fine metal jewelry in the hopes of inspiring conversation and change for animals. Her work shows the beauty of nature, animals, and all living things with whom we share this planet. All of her designs are done by hand—no molds, no machines—so every piece is unique. She works in a space filled with love and animals and the inspiration of nature around her. Sales from Tamara’s jewelry business—Striped Cat Metalworks, named in homage to her cat, Max—support animal organizations, and she often creates pieces specifically for fundraising.
Tell us how and when you became vegan?
My vegan story started when my daughter asked me one day if she had to continue to eat chickens. Many years ago, when she was a young child, we brought home some chicks and we all instantly fell in love with them. They would come in the house and watch cartoons with the kids and each one of them had its own name and personality. We often made them what the kids called “chicken loafs” consisting of baked grains, seeds, roasted sweet potatoes, and other veggies my kids thought would be tasty for the chickens.
My kids learned to love to bake from making tasty treats for their bird friends! Obviously, we quickly learned that these chickens were as inquisitive, sweet, smart, and capable of feelings as our cats and dog. That Thanksgiving my daughter asked if we could have a family feast at home without eating a turkey. They were so much like chickens, she said, that it bothered her to eat them. So, that is what we did!
At the time I didn’t know even one vegetarian person so I was pretty nervous that my daughter wouldn’t grow up to become a healthy adult. I instantly started a lot of reading and research. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to learn that she could be a healthy child and grow up to be a healthy adult as well. Along with this research I found (and watched) many videos. For some reason I felt lied to my whole life and was angry about it! How we raised animals and the manner in which they were treated and then killed just to be our food felt like a secret—like it was purposely hidden from us. I went vegetarian with my daughter as soon as I started learning all of this. It was a process for us to become a vegan family from a vegetarian one, but we all decided on our own to no longer eat animals about 13 years ago.
Is your whole family vegan?
We are a family of four, two adults and our two children. Just peeking over my shoulder while I was reading, or what I would say to him with disbelief as I learned it, my husband also said no more. My son was very young at the time, about five years old, when he asked to no longer eat animals as well. We all did it in our own time and it being our own decision. Thankfully it didn’t take all four of us long to get to the same place.
Shortly after going vegetarian, my daughter and I sat down to have lunch together and wondered about the documentary a lot of people were talking about called Earthlings. We tried watching this film while eating lunch together. Needless to say, it only took about 15 minutes and we were sobbing. We didn’t finish it. We didn’t need to. It was that day, right then and there, that she and I said we were going to live a vegan life. Our household has been vegan since.
What were the challenges you had raising your children vegan?
I felt as though there were challenges everywhere in life when people found out that my children were vegan. First, they would assume that it was us parents that forced that decision onto them, when it really was almost the other way around! My son was very young but never had a difficult time politely letting people know what he would and would not eat if it was offered to him. He had one friend whose mother just could not believe that he didn’t drink milk when she offered it to them with a snack. She even asked me about it!
Making the kid’s lunches and daily snacks for school were a part of everyday life because nothing was ever offered in school for them to eat. My daughter was in the 6th grade when she went vegan and her peers would give her a hard time about it sometimes. They were always interested in what she brought for lunch, though. She didn’t let it bother her because she knew why she was living the way she was. I remember her having a friend that was a bit younger than her asking about why she didn’t eat animals. Her friend said that she didn’t want to either.
Shortly after that I met her father. He was upset because my daughter told his about how she loved animals and didn’t want to eat them when asked. He told me to tell my daughter not to do that because he wasn’t going to allow his daughter to eat that way. I felt so bad because it hurt her heart. Kids just make those connections. If they are to love animals, then why do they also have to kill them to eat them?
Thankfully soon after going vegan my kids came home from public school and we home schooled. We met more families that felt a lot like we did and that was nice. Being a part of the big wide world and not just one small classroom was great for them not feeling so unusual anymore.
Have you always been an artist?
No, I don’t think I have always been an artist. I have, however, always tried to come up with creative ideas to help animals in ways that I personally am able to. Luckily, I had been able to be with my kids while they grew up and learned for a big chunk of their lives. I didn’t work outside of the home for most of that time, so I wasn’t able to financially donate to animals in need like I wished I was able to do. So, I got creative instead. I learned to sew and would make dog collars and leashes, I baked fancy animal treats, and used those items to try and help. Because the kids and I were home we were able to volunteer at many different places, we fostered so many animals in our home, and offered our time wherever it was needed. It wasn’t until my kids got much older and didn’t need me as often that I started trying new things I thought I might like. I started different types of art. I still have a difficult time calling myself an “artist.” I enjoy creating all different types of things but for some reason I don’t call myself an “artist.”
How did you discover your talent in making jewelry?
It took me a while of practice, experimenting, and failing to finally see anything I had made as wearable. I did tell myself the day I bought my new torch, I would create jewelry that would hopefully sell, and I would finally be able to financially help those saving animals. I really believe that this is what motivated me to try harder, experiment more, think outside the box, and create. Because I loved working with metal so much, it was all I wanted to do. It is an amazing feeling to picture something in your head that matters a lot to you, and then recreate it from melted silver.
What is your inspiration?
My inspiration changes with every piece of jewelry I create. In the beginning it was often frustration and anger. At the time, Barnum & Bailey Circus had just announced that they were going to “retire” their elephants and send them to sanctuary. Of course, many of us rejoiced in this news, but upon further digging we found out that wasn’t the whole story. I was upset and set out to my little studio to create an elephant pendant with a broken leg shackle and decorations still upon her back. The elephants never deserved to live that life, and even though they didn’t have to be a part of the circus life any longer, they would never be able to get that part of their lives back. The broken shackle will always be a part of their minds. We expected there to be more news after that of the elephants being retired.
What about the big cats? Why weren’t they also relieved of this life? And I set out to create a piece depicting a caged tiger with a whip cleverly left on the top of her cage to remind her that she had no control over her own life. I felt like I did a lot of this kind of work. I read something, saw something, learned something new about the way animals were treated and it upset me. To channel those feelings into something, I would go and create a piece of jewelry. Not everyone is into wearing caged tigers or elephants with broken leg shackles on their foot, believe it or not!
So, I turned to my second passion and that is nature. I love the little insects that make our world that we don’t pay much attention to, I love the milkweed that some think of as unimportant, I love the trees we pass by every day, I love the little animals that people seem to want to hate, and I promised myself that I would create happier things intermingled with my not so happy things. Depending on my life and what is going on in my head that day, that is from where I draw my inspiration.
What is your most meaningful piece to you, and what is the story behind it?
There have been SO many meaningful pieces. It makes my heart incredibly happy when someone will contact me and ask me to make them a cow pendant but if it could represent the specific cow’s spots they met at a sanctuary that helped them decide to go vegan. Or, a pig necklace because it reminds me of their favorite pig they help care for at a rescue where they volunteer. The woman who purchased the caged tiger pendant I just mentioned is an animal activist on the other side of the country. She is in the streets all the time trying to show people what the circus and zoo is really like from the eyes of the animals. She told me she purchased her necklace so that she can wear it and it will be one more way for her to speak for the animals.
I want to create pieces that get people’s attention. I want them to ask you about it, why you chose it, and what it represents. This woman is brave talking to strangers about things that often get people really upset and sometimes violent. I am in awe of her and I am proud that she wears art that I have made in hopes of starting conversations about the way we treat animals.
You came to the attention of The Animals Voice because of a necklace you had made for Arthur’s Acres Animal Sanctuary. You also fund raise for them with your art. How did you find this sanctuary? Have you visited?
I love Todd! He is a one of a kind of human and I am so glad that I found him. I think it was accidental that I found him! There are only two reasons why I have social media. One is to show the world what I create and the other is to follow along with great things being done to help animals. Todd creates the nicest videos for us followers that really help you feel like you know the animals that live with him. That sucked me in! You can hear the sweet noises a rescued duck makes when he knows he is now loved and safe. You can see how a rescued pig that weighs hundreds of pounds creates the most perfect hay nest for herself over many, many minutes. And when the animals need to go to the vet, he brings us there with them as well. We are a part of their lives because of Todd. I haven’t been able to visit the sanctuary yet (but will!), but I did get to meet Todd at a fundraiser a little while ago. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity! He is a good friend and human and always incredibly thankful to everyone that is a part of his and the animal’s lives.
What other ways is your art used for animal rights activism?
I try to often sneak activism into most of my jewelry! One of my favorite pieces is of a mother cow and her calf. I created that pendant with a male calf on purpose. Mother cows are almost never allowed to care for their male babies. Sadly, it is so unusual to see. When I first created this design, I was contacted by a woman who asked if I could make the pendant as a gift for an older friend of hers, but if I could make the calf a female.
My mind instantly thought it was because the pendant was to symbolize this mom and her daughter. I happily created it and mailed it.
Soon after I received a handwritten card in the mail from the woman who received it as a gift explaining why her friend asked me to do this and my heart broke. This is a part of the message she wrote: “I appreciate that you made the calf look like a heifer (female). I am a retired teacher who owns dairy cattle. It is always disappointing to get a bull calf, since they are not raised.” That crushed me. She was the reason why I was making these pendants with little boy calves. From that moment on, I promised to not make that pendant anything other than mother and son. I create mother and child pendants of animals that almost never get to nuzzle and raise their babies as nature intended.
Tell us about your beautiful creative space, your yard critters and Max. How do they inspire you?
I have an amazing creative space just down the back steps of my home in my backyard. My husband built it for me and I love it! It is small but stuffed full of character. From the outside it looks like a tiny 10′ x 12′ red barn. Max comes in with me just about every day and sits on a blanket-topped cabinet that my husband built for him in front of the window so he can watch the birds and take naps in the sunbeams. He built my bench tops from reclaimed lumber and an amazing ventilation system to keep my and Max’s lungs safe. There is an energy efficient air conditioner and heater to keep my sensitive supplies in a controlled environment.
I enjoy collecting other artist’s pieces to decorate my tiny space and make it even sweeter. We have quite a bit of wildlife around us and put out feeders from which almost all the animals eat. It is not at all unusual to see flocks of wild turkeys walk past my studio window in groups to pick at the apples fallen from my favorite old crab apple tree. The naughty squirrels often climb up the front of my studio to sit IN the birdfeeder that is on my window for Max. You can hear little chickadees and woodpeckers opening sunflower seeds on the roof, and underneath is a warm little space where a possum friend sleeps during the cold weather. We had a beautiful young black bear walk right past my studio while Max and I watched him adventure around. It is not unusual that a new piece I start creating is because of an encounter I just had with one of these beloved animals that call our yard their home. Everyone is welcome here!
Being a long time vegan, I am no stranger to researching everything. That just naturally flowed into my artistic and business life as well. It didn’t take long to find that when I dug a little bit so much of what I would need to use and purchase for my art making would involve using animals and mistreating humans and the earth. At the time, there were no polishing compounds that did not include animal fats. That was not common knowledge. It was something I spoke openly about and even opened the eyes of other vegan artists because they did not know either! Most polishing pads are wool. Saw blade lubricant —helpful in keeping the life of a saw blade intact—also contained animals. Some of the most sought-after hammers and metal shapers are made from animal rawhide. Work aprons to keep me safe from flying molten metal are almost all made from suede. I learned to create without using all of these items until I was able to find animal free versions.
Thankfully times are changing, and new types of animal-free items are coming out. I really do try to find the least impactful way when I make my buying choices. Eco-friendly packaging seems to be the trend, but I thought to myself, what about the rest of the package? That wasn’t biodegradable! A padded mailer might break down eventually but what about all that plastic packing tape? Or the jewelry box inside? Or the piece of jewelry itself? It is important to me to try to cause the least amount of harm so if I have a decision to make, it is going to be researched until I can find something I am happy with. Most of the time this is just done with web searches and then contacting the companies directly. I have found I often get different answers in emails than I get from their websites, so I always ask specifically now!
Where can our readers find you online to learn more about you and purchase your art?
I have a website where I list my pieces available for sale and I also have a blog. Because a lot of what I create is one of a kind it won’t be on my website, so I share those pieces to both my Instagram and Facebook accounts. I always love chatting with my online friends about things we are interested in!
You can find Tamara, Max, and The Striped Cat Metalworks on its website, on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Tamara’s blog.
Susan Barzallo is News & Associate Editor of The Animals Voice.
