Rachel Lavin is a nocturnal, nomadic native New Yorker. She grew up in the suburbs, rocking spelling bees and glued to 92.7 WDRE, a new wave radio station. Her favorite TV show back then was Pee Wee's Playhouse. Rachel's nerdy childhood tendencies found their apotheosis at at a summer camp called CTY, where she learned Latin and danced to new wave hits with other geeks. After graduating from Brown University with majors in linguistic anthropology and Spanish, she wandered for awhile, worked for awhile, then ran away to a beautiful town in Mexico named San Miguel de Allende that's known for being heavily populated by artists and American retirees. It was there that she learned metalsmithing; she'll never forget the first moment she melted a small piece of wire into a perfectly round ball - the moment she knew she was hooked on jewelry-making. She started selling her work shortly thereafter, when a woman who was travelling in San Miguel saw a ring on her finger and asked where she'd gotten it. In addition to making jewelry, Rachel works as a Spanish-English translator at an advertising agency. Other than NY and San Miguel, Rachel has lived in Boston, Atlanta, Providence, Portland (Oregon), Salamanca,Spain, and San Cristobal de las Casas, in Chiapas, Mexico. She currently resides in Austin with her kitty, Bolillo, and she firmly believes that he is the best cat in the world.