News

There are a lot of tongues wagging, and rightfully so, about the cultural appropriation (ripping off) of traditional textile designs created by indigenous artisans in Mexico. I am angry and concerned, and also alarmed by what's happening in the Mexican crafts world in general, due to globalization. While you as a customer can find more and more online shops professing to carry items "handmade in Mexico”, beware that there is no way to verify such a claim. No one is policing the internet-- whether it's articles on Facebook about a political candidate or a cute Etsy store selling inexpensive "peasant" blouses. Yuck,...

Artisans in Capula sell thousands of quickly produced pieces like the ones in these photos every week (cazuelas, bean pots, plates and bowls) because it’s traditional and VERY inexpensive. What a lot of people don’t realize is that there are artisans in Capula who create similar pottery for cooking and serving food, pero es otra cosa--it's a whole other thing. Their work is definitely not ordinary, and “charming” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

QUESTION: What do you give the person who has everything?

ANSWER: Something beautiful made by some who has next to nothing.

When that gift you purchase helps to sustain a family, a culture, and the Earth, then we can all smile. I'm talking about sustainable crafts made by indigenous Mexican artisans.

Mexico By Hand has been buying hammered copper vases in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán since we started in 2004. But it wasn’t until a decade later that we received our first order for a copper cazo. In case you aren't familiar, cazos are essentially large cooking pots with handles and without a lid-- very traditional in Mexico for cooking a variety of foods over an open fire. Cazos are most known for cooking carnitas, but they’re also good for making candy and jam because copper conducts heat so well. It turns out that some farmers in the U.S. (as well as Australia) have discovered...