Newsletter July 2015
“How to describe that slow Mexican winter, so leisured in unfolding, so brief in passage, that was a radiant summer? How to record the long lull, the safe sequence, the seamless span of equal days...”
Sybille Bedford from A Visit To Don Octavio.
We have brought winter from Mexico in time for our English Summer ship. In our cargo of Mexican sunshine, we also have….
Bright glassware in reds, yellows and turquoise. Our brightly coloured recycled glassware is made in a family-run workshops using Pepsi bottles and other discarded glass that is at the end of its reusable life. The glass is melted down and then blown. Each piece is uniquely shaped by hand and eye using techniques that date back thousands of years. The trace of the maker is captured as the glass solidifies; small ripples and optical distortions are an integral part of the glassware. Each piece is born from chance material and skill and is a marriage between hand and eye. The glassware is bold and exuberant and produced in an abundance of colours and combinations redolent of Mexico – turquoise and red, purple and red, turquoise and yellow, olive, plum, red and clear. Our glassware includes jugs, wine glasses, bowls, vases and tumblers.
Cement Encaustic Floor Tiles have been made in Mexico for centuries. Every small town has at least one maker if not several. However in recent years these "Mosaicos Hidraulicos" have been superceded by cheap porcelain and the craft is in danger of dying out in Mexico. Milagros has recently started working with a small family run workshop who have been making these tiles for generations. We are now holding stock of 16 colours and are taking commissions for patterned ones. These cement encaustics are individually hand made. First a coloured slurry is poured into the mold, which gives the tiles a 5mm deep coloured surface. Then a volcanic aggregate of concrete dry mix is spread on the back before the tile is formed with 25 tons of pressure. the combination of making process and materials produces a range of soft subtle colours which give hard waring, slightly shimmering surface when laid. The father of the family has been making these tiles for almost 60 years. He followed his father and grandfather into the business.
