Lunch in El Tigre, Michoacan

We took a break from our artist visits to lunch in El Tigre (near Capula, Michoacan, Mexico). Dirceau had introduced us to this popular spot on our last trip and we've been anticipating it for the last year. We probably would not have stopped on our own at a roadside restaurant without his recommendation. The food on this trip was as good as we remembered, but we were a little too early to be part of the crush of humanity that visits here daily.


The open restaurant faces the highway and long tables fill with locals. The menu is printed on boards on the wall, but, Dirceau just told the busy waitresses what to bring. Soup, grilled onions, avocado, tortillas, and meat. Salsa and chips came, too. Then we just dug in and made our own treats using the ingredients provided. The "kitchen" is part of the dining room and we watched the young women cooking expertly handle the tortillas and the grilled food.


Notice the green olla pot in the center. (See the 3/28 blog for a photo of one we have coming to Chiripa.)

We'll be back to artists workshops on the next post.

Juan Rosas Family

The next stop on our tour of potters with Dirceau/Echery Pottery/Barro Sin Plomo was at the home of the Juan Rosas Family in Capula, Michoacan. This delightful family produces excellent quality work. We feature a beautifully painted fish plate on the Chiripa website. To find others, simply search by the name "Juan Rosas."


When you get to their house you walk through it and out the back door, across the courtyard and into the workshop/studio. It is a modest place with well-tended plants all around.


We were fortunate that a shipment of pieces had just returned from a show in Morelia. The following photo is a preview of things that will be in the shop and maybe on the website in the near future.


You Day of the Dead fans have probably never seen such a fine Catrina plate! And the detailed painting on the large olla (the covered pot on stand) took our breath away.

We marvel at the tiny, precise dots that adorn the pottery. You can see a salsa bowl and spoon in a similar style on the Chiripa website.

We were sorry to hear that the son has recently taken a construction job to supplement the family income. We hope that we can help create a demand for their lead-free pottery so that he is back to work full-time making and painting more beautiful pieces like the ones you have seen here.


Next (next post), we'll stop for lunch!

Capula, Michoacan, Mexico 1

Capula is a center for pottery with over 400 family-operated workshops. The hand-painted ceramics are best known for the pointillist "punteado" technique.

We visited Fernando Arroy and his wife Belem at their home and workshop in Capula. Fernando combines the traditional pointillist technique with innovative designs of fish, animals, flowers and geometric forms. We feature his large fish platter on the homepage of our website. It sells for $100 at the shop (636 S Park St, Madison, WI) but is not available through the website at this time.

We wanted to buy the platter Fernando is holding in this photo, but it had won a major competition and was outside our price range.

Although hard to see in the photo, the plate is filled with Monarch butterflies. The Monarch butterflies winter at a preserve in the state of Michoacan, not far from Capula.

Instead of the prize-winner, we chose a couple plates from a sample slection displayed on the wall. We hope to receive them in the shop in mid-April.

I'm always amazed at the freehand precision of these artists. In this next photo, Fernando begins with a line on the edge of a bowl. We have one of his oval bowls available for sale on the Chiripa website.
My next post will be with another family in Capula.

Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico

We bused from Guadalajara to Patzcuaro via Morelia. The bus system in Mexico is wonderful. Every city has a depot and there are frequent options for just about anywhere. The only downside is that the first class buses sometimes show violent US-made movies that are hard to block out. This trip's movies weren't too bad.


I love details in architecture and "our" room at the Los Escudos Hotel in Patzcuaro has a wonderful brick ceiling and painted details on the walls. We stayed for five days in Patzcuaro so I'll give you more details about the city later.

One of our favorite contacts in Mexico is Barro Sin Plomo (Clay Without Lead)/Echery Pottery. BSP is the non-profit organization that began working with Michoacan potters about ten years ago to remove the lead from their processes. Echery is the distribution arm that gets the lead-free products to market. (Most of the pottery on our website comes from Echery.)

We first met BSP staff Anna and Dirceau two years ago at Enart in Tlaquepaque. It was a perfect match. We wanted lead-free pottery and they wanted more US customers. Anna has moved back to the US to become more active in fundraising for BSP while Dirceau and his brothers Victor and Mitch plus a couple more work hard to make the business end of things work. We're greeted as friends by this energetic group of young people.

One new Echery account has everyday restaurant dinnerware being prepared for a shipment to the US. The yard is full of plates and bowls and casseroles.

Beth helps out with the glazing and Mitch and Victor load the kiln. Not everyone pitches in.


Here Spot (I can't remember the Spanish name, but it translated to "Spot.") takes a rest among the pottery.

On this trip Dirceau has agreed to take time to drive us out to meet some of the local potters. Victor helps plan the route. (Notice the bowl on the table. You can see one similar on our website.)

The next few posts will highlight some of those meetings. Come back soon.

Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico

This post wil cover two business located in Tlaquepaque (very close to Guadalajara). We began carrying hand-blown glass last fall (2007) and this was my first trip to the factory where they make it. I'm familiar with glass blowing, but was impressed with the many people working in very hot conditions to craft the products we sell. The name of the business is Vitro Disenos Artesanales at Contreas Medellin No. 173.

This young man is making a glass flower.

This woman is inspecting a special order for hand-blown glass tequilla bottles.

Another special visit was made to D'Casa Stoneware. We met a representative at Enart two years ago, but had lost contact with the business. They make beautiful, sturdy (dishwasher safe), lead-free stoneware. We carried a pattern called "Rosy" when we opened. It sold well and we've had many requests for additional pieces. We are happy to say that we will carry it again this spring! I was able to photograph the workers:

This isn't our pattern, but it shows the incredibly precise work that goes into each piece.

I was watching the gentleman in the next picture turning a bowl and using a tool (maybe a small piece of wood) to shape the sides. Then I looked at the table next to him (the second picture) and saw many bowls of the exact same shape. How can he make the shapes match so well?

I'm excited to have this product back in the shop. I'll let you know by this post when the stoneware (and everything else) has arrived. We're hoping for mid-April.

Trip with Pix 1

I will recreate parts of the Chiripa buying trip to Mexico complete with pictures and information this time. We began the trip February 14 at Enart, a semi-annual handcrafted gift show in Tlaquepaque just outside of Guadalajara. Our first hotel was Hotel San Francisco in downtown Guadalajara. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good location at a reasonable price.


Our room was on the second floor (no elevator) overlooking an interior courtyard/dining room below. The buffet breakfasts are great. Our first morning's fare included fish. I suspect it was because it was the first Friday of lent.

While in Guadalajara we stopped by the concurrent furniture show to visit with Lulu and Alfredo at their exhibit of Wood and Copper. We picked out some new furniture pieces with copper accents. We hope to have shipment by mid-April and it will include end tables, coffee tables, and bedside stands, as well as copper frames.


I hope to continue adding info and images as I have time. Look for more in a couple days.

Home Again

Re-entry proved challenging. First, our flight out of Oaxaca was cancelled due to mechanical failure. Although we got on another airline's later flight, one had the sense that the attendants don't need to deal with this very often. After all, the weather is not a factor in delays! We got into O'Hare at about 2 a.m. on Saturday morning and waited for the 6 a.m. Van Galder bus. Although a little sleep deprived, we arrived home only slightly later than planned.

Somehow the spirits conspired to cause major IT issues at the shop. No email (a provider security issue), complete internet shutdown for part of a day, and a stubborn printer. 

But, we're back online and humming along. As soon as I locate my camera cord, I'll recreate portions of the trip with photos. So, thanks for keeping track of us and come back to see photos of the artists and the places we visited.