THE ARTISANS

 

Arte Grabado en Vidrio [Art Engraved on Crystal]

José Cruz Guillén engraving an "El Arenal" balloon snifter.
      Arte Grabado en Vidrio [Art Engraved on Crystal] studio is owned and operated by José Cruz Guillén, a second-generation crystal engraver from Mexico City. He started learning the craft at age 12 in the workshop of his father and uncle; at 17 he was a master engraver, and at 21 opened his own glass and crystal engraving studio. His specialty is an ancestral Mexican engraving technique called Pepita[Small Seed], renowned for its delicate beauty and refinement. Very much like the tequila, this craft originated in the sixteenth century as a blend of European and Pre-Columbian skills and creativity.
     Mr. Cruz's engravings are a singular combination of vivid contemporary design with a technique and craftsmanship of bygone times. His works are in the permanent exhibition of the Museo de Arte Popular [Popular Art Museum] in Mexico City, as well in many public and private collections in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He is also the engraver of Casa Dragones' tequila bottle, arguably one of the most stylish containers of this kind ever made. Among other recognitions, in 2010 Casa Dragones' bottle won the highly coveted Grand Prix Stratégies du Luxe product/packaging design award, given previously only to such exclusive luxury brands as Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Cartier.

 PelcastreguiArte [PelcasterguiArt]

 

Ricardo Hernández Morales hammering a sterling encasing for "Jarrito".     

     For over four decades the PelcastreguiArte [PelcastreguiArt] studio has consistently produced some of the finest hand-wrought silver in Mexico. Renowned for it's impeccable craftsmanship and design, their works have been presented to presidents of Mexico, visiting heads of state, and the houses of Spanish and British royalty, among others.

     The original workshop was founded in 1975 by Felipe Pelcastregui Olvera as Creaciones Finas en Metal [Metal Artworks], and in 2012 renamed PelcastreguiArte. Presently it is owned and operated by Mr. Pelcastregui's sons Luis, Alejandro, Evaristo, Leonardo, Felipe, and Hector, who continue to build on their father's heritage of skilled metalsmithing and artistic perfection.

 

Talavera La Corona [Talavera The Crown]

 

Gonzalo Flores Potrero decorating a Talavera "Jarrito". 

      The Talavera is a world-renowned type of majolica ceramic produced since the sixteenth century in Puebla, Mexico. At the present there are fewer than twenty certified workshops that produce a genuine Talavera, with traditional dark and white clays from deposits in the state of Puebla (Atlixco, Cholula, Puebla and Tecali), and the meticulous hand-crafted techniques regulated by the seventeenth century ordinances. One of the best known of them -and the only one located outside of Puebla- is Talavera La Corona [Talavera The Crown] in San Pablo del Monte, Tlaxcala.

      Talavera La Corona is a small, family owned workshop that was established in 1981 by the master potter Cayetano Corona Gaspariano. Every piece of the Talavera La Corona's ceramic is made with clay from Puebla, and employs the same complex and laborious methods of hand-crafting and double firing as in the early Colonial times. Their Talavera ranks among the finest in Mexico, and is sold in several of the country's upscale stores as well exported to USA, Canada, South America, UK, Denmark and Japan. For his meticulous craftsmanship and contribution to the revival of the Talavera's legacy, Mr. Corona was named in 2001 a "Grand Master [of Talavera]" from one of Mexico's most prestigious cultural foundations, the Fomento Cultural Banamex.

 

Vidrio Artistico Imperial [Imperial Art Glass]

 

 Francisco Campos Corona detailing a mouth-blown glass "Jarrito".     

      Vidrio Artistico Imperial [Imperial Art Glass] workshop was started in 1996 by the glassmaker Enrique Salazar Díaz in Tlaquepaque (Guadalajara), Mexico, a major center for mouth-blown glass production since the late nineteenth century. It was established as and remains a small family business, with about twenty employees and true artisanal roots. Today Enrique Salazar's son, Carlos, is following in the footsteps of his father as production manager of the workshop.

      The glassware made by Vidrio Artistico Imperial include functional as well a decorative pieces such as glasses, decanters, vases, bowls, small sculptures and corporate gifts, among others. An outstanding blend of hand-crafted quality, beauty and functionality, their products are sold to several affluent retailers and corporate clients in Mexico, and exported to USA, Canada, South America and Europe.