Blog

THE IMPACT OF ONE PLATE

Screen Shot 2016-01-03 at 7.59.45 PMRemember this lil ole plate from yesterday’s post? It’s the Cilla plate from Local + Lejos and not only is it beautiful, but for a community out of Mexico, it makes a huge difference.  The purchase of one plate feeds the artisan’s family for an entire week. We were dying to learn more so we dug a little deeper and learned the following about the artisan, her craft and the impact one plate can make. Here’s all the details from the lovelies over at Local + Lejos:

artisan-image-2-3

Just a few blocks past the brightly colored church in the town of Santa Maria Atzompa, our artisan Rufina has created a ceramic workshop in her very own back yard. She and her family reside just a few miles outside of Oaxaca City, Mexico.  There, she works alongside her sister and other family members to turn materials of the earth into beautiful ceramic masterpieces. At the young age of 10, Rufina was taught the art of ceramics by her grandmother, and has been practicing for nearly 30 years.

In order to make her pottery, Rufina creates a ball of clay by mixing water with raw earth materials, that she digs from the ground in other parts of the country. She takes a handful of this clay, places it on top of a flat circular disk, and starts to spin it with her hands. As one arm spins the disk, her other hand starts to mold the design. This process is highly intensive and manual, but she gracefully continues without the aid of any equipment, and in a matter of minutes, she has turned a lump of clay into a work of art.

second-try-3

Once the pottery has taken shape, Rufina and her fellow artisans take it to the kiln in the backyard. The pieces are then fired twice, giving them a dark grey color, and then Rufina cooks them a final time to give them the signature light brown shade of ceramics. She adds the finishing touch by glazing the pieces in an array of stunning colors. Read more about this collaboration and others on the Local + Lejos site.

artisan-image-3

 

 

Leave a comment
Share on

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Related Articles

Read

fair trade welcome bags from the little market

If you haven’t checked out The Little Market, it’s a must. Filled with so many products that empower women artisans…

Read

help others get access to clean water while getting your 8 glasses a day

This post was written by Claire Pettibone of Simply B! Her business is dedicated to making your life simply better while…

Back to Blog More Articles