Last year we visited Mexico to try and find new suppliers for ceramics and traditional folk arts as well as visiting our existing suppliers for Baja hoodies and earrings.

Overall, the trip was a difficult one as we found our once passable Spanish language abilities now somewhat diminished. Also, restrictive Mexican export rules and expensive packaging costs for ceramics meant that we were simply unable to ship back everything we wanted to.

Having said this however, the pieces we did manage to order are amongst the most special we have seen and we were able to visit the individual workshops where the ceramics were made.

Barro Style Pottery

We met with Armando and Bertha at their home in Texcoco, a husband and wife team who sell mostly to shops and stalls in the bustling handicraft markets of Mexico City. They showed us the various products they make along with the pottery workshop and kiln they have built in their garden.

Armando mostly makes traditional Aztec and Maya inspired designs and uses the traditional 'barro' style clay to make his ceramics. Happily, they also showed us an incredibly delicious and filling taco restaurant in the leafy outskirts of Texcoco.

La Calavera Catrinas

Next we were able to visit local artist Arturo's workshop, Artenesias Diaz, who make the traditional Calavera Catrinas. You can read a little bit more about the history of La Calavera Catrina on our blog. After chatting with Arturo and his family for some time about all manner of things (including tequila!) we picked three of our favourite large catrinas and a selection of medium and small sizes.

Each one of the Catrina figurines is a spectacular work of art and they are rarely seen outside of Mexico's handicraft markets. We feel very lucky to be able to visit the small workshops and see where these creations are made. You can browse a selection of the Catrinas here.

Arbol de La Vida

After visiting our Baja top producer and our earring makers in Taxco, we visited the colourful town of Metepec. Famous for producing the beautiful Arbol de La Vida or Tree of Life ceramics, Metepec is filled with wide avenues dedicated to traditional pottery manufacturers and every shop is crammed to the ceiling with ceramics.

After visiting several shops, we were pleased to find Eber, a one-man operation who crafts and paints wonderfully detailed Tree of Life figures. In this picture you can see Eber next to the rotating wheel he uses to paint all of his beautiful items.