Hola Alberto. Interesting video. The visitors were packed into the market like sardines in a can. This charming colonial town is crowded enough even when there isn't a feria. If one hates crowds this might be a good time to visit almost anywhere else in the state of Hidalgo or adjacent parts of the state of Mexico. Lots of silver. Were many of the dealers from Taxco? Mexico has always had some silver, and also gold, jewelry manufacturing, but about a century ago, a bit less actually, an architect from the US arrived in Taxco and not only led a movement to preserve the colonial era architecture, he also revived the silver jewelry industry and created an international reputation for it. His name was William Spratling. Many of the people making silver jewelry today are two to five generations from the artisans who learned their craft while working for Spratling. Stainless steel jewelry!? What next? It's harder to work than silver, but it is not likely to tarnish. I suspect Spratling is rolling in his grave at the thought. How much comes from China? At least the mole came from Mexico. A similar thing occured in Tonala and Tlaquepaque, when Jorge Wilmot and a friend arrived from the US and helped to revive the ceramic industry in those towns. I think it is interesting that it sometimes takes the eyes of an outsider to appreciate what Mexico's artisans are capable of producing and to help revive a dying craft. Most of the Taxco silver and Tlaquepaque ceramics are well made but aimed at tourists, but there are also some truly gifted artists at work for those that can afford it. When I was in Chiapas in 1974 the art of weaving some of the village huipils was all but dead. I spent a couple of days with Walter F Morris Jr. (a student from the US who was studying the symbolism of the designs used in the weaving). Alarmed at the loss of the weaving tradition in Chiapas he worked with some of the best Tzotzil and Tzeltal weavers (especially those from San Andres and Tenejapa) to establish a weaving co-op (Sna Jolobil) to teach traditional weaving techniques and provide an income to the Indian women in the highlands. Before Walter died he wrote at least a half dozen books on the weaving and textiles in Chiapas. There is a saying, "Poor Mexico, so close to the United States, so far from God." It hasn't always been bad news, and it certainly made it easy for me to visit Mexico many times. Hola to Adriana. Stay well.
Good afternoon William, it was indeed chaos walking there, in fact we ran out very early hehe, there was no place to sit and rest nor did they give you the opportunity to see anything, plus the sellers were very busy and worried about taking care of their jewelry because there are many chilangos rats attending hehe, a year ago we had to see some thieves running around who took the jewelry haha. What you mention about Taxco is very interesting, note that most of the sellers, I think they were from there because Real de Monte, although it is a mining town or it was, normally it doesn't have many artisans in silver. We arrived around 12 noon and left around 3:30 in the afternoon and we came to eat seafood in Pachuca haha, practically every time there is a fair in Real del Monte it is a Chaos, there are not enough parking spaces and the traffic police only seek to remove license plates if you leave them on the street, well what are we going to do to them hehe. Receive greetings from the entire family friend.
Hola Alberto. Interesting video. The visitors were packed into the market like sardines in a can. This charming colonial town is crowded enough even when there isn't a feria. If one hates crowds this might be a good time to visit almost anywhere else in the state of Hidalgo or adjacent parts of the state of Mexico. Lots of silver. Were many of the dealers from Taxco? Mexico has always had some silver, and also gold, jewelry manufacturing, but about a century ago, a bit less actually, an architect from the US arrived in Taxco and not only led a movement to preserve the colonial era architecture, he also revived the silver jewelry industry and created an international reputation for it. His name was William Spratling. Many of the people making silver jewelry today are two to five generations from the artisans who learned their craft while working for Spratling. Stainless steel jewelry!? What next? It's harder to work than silver, but it is not likely to tarnish. I suspect Spratling is rolling in his grave at the thought. How much comes from China? At least the mole came from Mexico.
A similar thing occured in Tonala and Tlaquepaque, when Jorge Wilmot and a friend arrived from the US and helped to revive the ceramic industry in those towns. I think it is interesting that it sometimes takes the eyes of an outsider to appreciate what Mexico's artisans are capable of producing and to help revive a dying craft. Most of the Taxco silver and Tlaquepaque ceramics are well made but aimed at tourists, but there are also some truly gifted artists at work for those that can afford it.
When I was in Chiapas in 1974 the art of weaving some of the village huipils was all but dead. I spent a couple of days with Walter F Morris Jr. (a student from the US who was studying the symbolism of the designs used in the weaving). Alarmed at the loss of the weaving tradition in Chiapas he worked with some of the best Tzotzil and Tzeltal weavers (especially those from San Andres and Tenejapa) to establish a weaving co-op (Sna Jolobil) to teach traditional weaving techniques and provide an income to the Indian women in the highlands. Before Walter died he wrote at least a half dozen books on the weaving and textiles in Chiapas.
There is a saying, "Poor Mexico, so close to the United States, so far from God." It hasn't always been bad news, and it certainly made it easy for me to visit Mexico many times. Hola to Adriana. Stay well.
Good afternoon William, it was indeed chaos walking there, in fact we ran out very early hehe, there was no place to sit and rest nor did they give you the opportunity to see anything, plus the sellers were very busy and worried about taking care of their jewelry because there are many chilangos rats attending hehe, a year ago we had to see some thieves running around who took the jewelry haha. What you mention about Taxco is very interesting, note that most of the sellers, I think they were from there because Real de Monte, although it is a mining town or it was, normally it doesn't have many artisans in silver. We arrived around 12 noon and left around 3:30 in the afternoon and we came to eat seafood in Pachuca haha, practically every time there is a fair in Real del Monte it is a Chaos, there are not enough parking spaces and the traffic police only seek to remove license plates if you leave them on the street, well what are we going to do to them hehe.
Receive greetings from the entire family friend.