Day 4, 5 & 6 - Mexico City

Mexico City (i.e. DF) is where this whole project began and it's at the heart of our collection.

From crowded market streets adorned with pink tarps to the quiet neighborhoods where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived, this city is a constant source of inspriation. At every turn, it's apparent that Mexico City embraces both its deep rooted tradition and its love for contemporary art and architecture. In a sense, this city is an inspriation for us as we build our collection and add new artists to our team.

When we first launched 3 years ago we started working with two jewelers, Maria Jose and Laila. This past week, we met with them both and spent hours looking at their new collections, talking about their work and learning about their market. Both have brought new inspiration to their work and we're excited to be bringing it to M&Co soon.

Maria Jose's work is a contemporary take on traditional mayan jewelry. Combining silver with twice fired ceramic beads, her work is unique and constantly evolving.

And Laila, has continued to follow is her father's foot steps. She's developed a beautiful collection of "milagro" inspired earrings and has a few art nuveou pieces that we can't wait to receive. 

Oaxaca - Day 3

Textiles & Earrings

We spent the day browsing textiles and silver. We met with more filigree artists (photos below), and worked to build a collection of Rebosos (shawls) that range from bright colors and summer covers to rich natural dyes and collectors items. Our soon to be debuted Reboso collection comes from the Vasquez family in Maria Tlahuitoltepec Mixe, Oaxaca.

Oaxaca - Casa Azul, Hotel Boutique

Before we share the finds of the day, I need to mention our hotel, because it was beyond fabulous and filled with art and inspiration. Casa Azul -Oaxaca, is a small boutique hotel that was designed be 4 major artists, including Toledo & Palacio. All of whom are from Mexico. Each collaborated in the minimalistic style of the hotel and they utilized local art and artists to create their concept. The staff and General Manager, Federica, were beyond helpful and quickly became friends. From helping us find artist to recommending restaurants, they made our trip an experience and we can't wait to return.

Oaxaca - Day 2

Oaxaca is made up of hundreds of little villages that each specialize in a single craft. In a way, the city acts like a gallery and the surrounding towns are the artists studios. So, today we traveled from small pueblo to small pueblo visiting artisans, learning about their craft and watching them work. 

First stop was an eventful one. We met with Soledad & Francisco Gutierrez, filigree artists from San Juan Chapultepec. Francisco learned his craft as a young boy and as he grew up, he grew his art into a family business. Francisco is consdered a master artisan, recognized nationally as one of the finest filigree/silver jewelers in Mexico. Below are photos of Francisco and his workshop. Most the tools he made himself and with the exception of a few saws, his studio is in itself a work of art. 

Oaxaca - Day 1

Oaxaca is synonymous with artisania. The state, as a whole, accounts for over 4 million artisans and the city draws artisans from every corner to display their work in an array of venues, from high-end galleries, to cooperative owned stores and street vendors.

Today, a lot of our work has been identifying what items and what artists fit well with Mariza & Company's vision. For us, it's essential to develop an ongoing partnership with the artists to enable economic stability and preservation of the artistic form. This, lead us to two major findings.

First, we met with Juan Manuel Garcia, a jeweler, designer and master raddish sculptor (yes, I'm refering to the vegetable). Mr. Garcia has lived an very successful artistic life. He's well known for creating huge paper mache sculptures for local festivals, he was the winner 18 years running of the Noche de Rabana competition, an event where artists create sculptures out of raddishes and display them for the city to view, and most noteably, he's a world famous filigree artist, creating jewelry and sculptures that have been on display around the world. For us, his jewelry is a dream. His work is meticulous and his craft has been a symbol of Oaxaca and Oaxacan culture for generations.

After meeting with Mr. Garcia, we strolled to the "20 de noviembre" market where we enjoyed lunch and spied our first baskets of chapulines (chile fried grasshoppers) available for purchase. Around the corner from the market we met with a group of weavers who have developed a contemporary take on the traditional "palapa" weavings. Using their weaving techniques, this group has used plastic ribbon to develop a new bag style. A style, we think you are going to love. 

                             

Tomorrow, we're venturing outside the city to meet more artists. 

Hasta mañana!

Tehuana Culture Part II - Frida's Influence

                  

While not a Tehuana herself, Frida Kahlo made the clothing and jewelry of the Tehana women famous outside of Mexico. Colorful, bold, ornate, their work is incredibly detailed and destictive to their culture. 

Unlike other indigenous communitites in Mexico, the women of Tehuantepec, known as Tehuanas, are considered the heads of their households. They manage the family funds, run the family businesses, and dictate how their children are raised. For this reason alone one can easily imagine why Frida was so drawn to their culture.

Tehuantepec is a central city for the Zapotec indigenous community which is located on the Isthmus of Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca. Today, the Tehuana women and the Tehuantepec community continue to depend largely on their hand made goods for their economic well-being. 

Mariza & Company is excited to be working directly with Lilia Hernandez, a Tehuana who learned her family art of emboidery and filigree jewelry at the age of 6. Today, she's the Mother of three and proud wife of a Tehuantepec husband. Our work with her is an endeavour to bring her culture and her art to a new market. Much like Frida, Mariza & Company strongly believes and stands behind the beautify the the Tehuana art and the stregth of the Tehuana women.

Filigri Earrings & Tehuana Culture Part 1

            

Remember these? We had them at our trunk shows in Phoenix & Taos but have yet to introduce them online. Thanks, however, to our dear friend Lauri we're working with artist, Lilia Hernandez, and her family to bring these beautiful earrings back and to premier them on our site.

Lauri, who is retired art teacher from Albuquerque, is currently traveling through Oaxaca and helping us coordinate the shippment of these beautiful earrings. Thoughout this process, Lauri has been sharing her experiences with us about working with Lilia, her family, and her learnings about thier Tehuana culture. Below is a letter from Lauri that we just had to share.

Hola,

Lilia is a gentle woman, 46 years old, and is from the Isthmus of Mexico, Tehuantepec.  Her husband, Jaime, is from a nearby village, Juchitan.  They go back and forth between their villages and the city of Oaxaca.  Lilia's sister, Maria Elena, also works in the city, at their "puesto" or stall, where they sell their jewelry and hand emboidered tapestries.

Lilia's booth is inside the main entrance of the Mercado de Juarez. Here you'll find, adorned with hot pink crepe paper, displays the gold jewelry and fabulously detailed and colorful embroidery from the Tehuanas - the women from the Isthmus, Lilia's heritage.

I was asking Lilia about the culture there - it is decidedly different from most other parts of Mexico- some consider it matriarchal.  For Lilia, it means that she controls the purse-strings.  Her husband, who makes the "filigrino" jewelry together with her, gives Lilia all the money, as do many in that area.  She says it is because the Tehuanas are very smart - muy inteligente.  Women also tend to control the government there.  She says the women are passionate, fiery and strong - calinoso.  She is proud of that.

Lilia also says that the filigrino work is dying out - that it is so time consuming, that the younger people are not doing it any more.

The embroidery is one of the most expensive textile work in the state.

Thanks to Lauri & Lilia, we're working to bring these beautiful earrings to you and to continue our mission of supporting artisans and their communities from around Mexico. 

We'll let you know when the earrings premier online and in the mean time, we're working to bring you a lot more interesting facts about the Women of the Isthmus! 

Besos! Mariza & Co. 

Traveling

We have a new friend of Mariza & Co. who will be traveling to Oaxaca and meeting with a few of our artists. Join us here on the blog as she tells us about her adventures, her meetings with our artists, and talks about the artisan community in Oaxaca.  We'll be doing some traveling this year, so this will be the start to a section of our blog that's dedicated to travel and the artisan community.