Hola! I’m Ignacio Lopez, the founder, artist and creator of HappyBuddha.Guru. I was born and raised in San Antonio Texas. My parents are Ignacio and Eladia Lopez who were both Mexican immigrants. I am a first generation Mexican-American. I moved to Tulsa in 1994 for the pursuit of the American dream of building a family and to chase corporate career success in the energy industry as an engineer. Years later disappointed and drained from the corporate world and following a painful divorce I stumbled upon a broken wooden Buddha sculpture for $5 at a local garage sale. I was standing in a strangers driveway, garage sale broke, numb from the prozac i had been taking for over 6 months, and i saw this exquisitely happy Buddha, and like water in the desert i felt a bloom of life inside of me and a huge smile broke across my face. I was overjoyed to feel anything. I grabbed him and took him home. Years later in 2015 I began to sculpt his joyful face in clay. I had looked for jewelry that had this happy Buddha's face to remind me of that moment i began to recover and find my joy. After many months of searching I decided to learn the art of jewelry making and create my own pendant. My first piece was the Happiness Warrior Dog Tag and Spiritual Compass  Pendant.  I absolutely love creating the  world’s happiest Buddha jewelry in my studio in Tulsa Oklahoma.

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I am a self trained sculptor, and I sculpt my designs in clay in large format, which are then digitally scanned and then scaled down in CAD. Then I can 3D print highly detailed resin prints to cast in silver and gold. My goal is to provide you with simple reminders to be happy! Something that can make you smile just by looking at it! That is real magic. 

 

Remember,

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YOU are the HappyBuddha.Guru of YOUR life...because if you're not, then who is?

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                                             Ignacio Lopez

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