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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Those who frequent Old Town will no doubt have noticed a new addition to the area's arts and crafts district.

Tucked behind the Gallery of the Midnight Sun and the entranceway to Yellowknife Bay is a green shack, formerly white, that is now the home of Idumea Fine Crafts which opened in August.

Efrain Perdomo, owner of Idumea Fine Crafts in Old Town, pauses for a moment while tinkering away in his studio. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

The owner, Efrain Perdomo, is a former diamond polisher who has hoped for the chance to live and work on his own terms for years.

Born in Uruguay and raised in Brazil, Perdomo enjoyed working with crafts from a young age and received the equivalent of a university fine arts degree, paying for it by working as a goldsmith.

When he and his wife Ana started a family of their own - five kids, to be exact - Perdomo found his living situation in Rio de Janeiro untenable. The residents of neighbouring hills were attempting to spread cocaine to Perdomo's middle class neighbourhood, making it an unsafe environment for his kids, who are now mostly grown

"The violence in Rio de Janeiro was extremely big and we were not so safe," said Perdomo, speaking from his studio in Old Town.

Perdomo took his family and left Brazil, settling in Calgary and operating a couple fine crafts stores.

Later he moved to Yellowknife, where he worked at polishing plant in Ndilo.

But Perdomo said he ultimately preferred to work alone, where his jewelry and crafts can receive a personal touch.

Perdomo handcrafts every single piece in his store, which includes purses, earrings and belt buckles, many of them decorated with stones as varied as quartz and mother of pearl.

When Yellowknifer caught up with him last Friday, Perdomo was fashioning the silver buckle for a belt, mulling what kind of stone he should use for the center.

Asked what attracted him to his practice, Perdomo answered "rocks and metals. They're very rigid. It's a wonderful element to work with in order to attain something that you understand to be beautiful. It makes you happy to do something that brings you satisfaction."

Perdomo believes his products are a slightly off-kilter alternative to the traditional jewelry and crafts available elsewhere in Yellowknife.

"I don't think that I have anything very popular because it's totally new for Yellowknife," he said. "Most people are just looking for traditional craft, traditional beading. I don't really do beading. I think it's because I don't respect any rule for cutting stones. I just want to find a shape that is beautiful to me."