MALINCHE
Design Stories. La Malinche Furniture By Ana Elena Mallet
A few years ago, vintage furniture became highly fashionable. Suddenly, the anxiety to rescue brands, designers and pieces from another time became more evident, not only in Mexico City but across the country. As a result, showrooms, bazaars and auctions have surfaced to display Mexican design from the early and midtwentieth century. Places like the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City have been decisive in bringing vintage furniture out of anonymity, and the publication, in 2007, of Life and Design in Twentieth-Century Mexico, edited by Fomento Cultural Banamex, has been a helpful guide through the dark. Names have rapidly popped up everywhere: Clara Porset, Michael van Beuren, Gastín Chaussat and his Evolution Studio in the thirties, among dozens more. Even so, the history of design in Mexico still has research to be done, and stories to be told. Take for example, the emblematic case of La Malinche Furniture in Monterrey, whose story is scarcely known, yet whose furniture is often found. Even though Mexico’s industrialization is historically considered until the forties, it is certain that in Monterrey progress came before. During this century, Nuevo Leon’s residents were characterized by their drive and vision of business and industry. Therefore, it is no surprise that we can speak of a handful of companies that have to do with manufacturing and development that were started at the time and still set precedents in their fields: Monterrey’s Iron and Steel Works, opened in 1900; Monterrey’s Glass Factory (Vitro), 1909; and Cemex, Monterrey’s Cement Company founded in 1906, are just a few examples. For the drive Nuevo Leon lived at the time and to meet the needs of the new business class that was born during this wilderness, it became necessary to create a new way of living and understanding life. The furniture used to decorate houses and receive guests comfortably, were a fundamental part of this beginning. With the industrial boom, La Malinche Furniture Manufacturing Company was created in 1909. Its founding, according to researcher Gerardo Zapata1, was registered on July 7. Opening it involved an investment of $100,000.00 pesos, and
as part of the benefits the state granted all new industries at the time, the factory was excluded from paying taxes for the following seven years, by Governor Bernardo Reyes’ orders. Christopher Treviño and Manuel Reyes, who had been operating a small carpentry shop since 1895, ran the company, which was specialized in chairs, from fine wood folding seats, to fine rocking chairs that referred to different artistic styles. In fact, even today one may find chairs with the “Malinche Chairs” seal. The company restocked huge orders and manufactured chairs on a massive scale. Later
on, they manufactured rocking chairs for restaurants, hotels, schools, factories and public offices. They even created the seats for the first cinemas in Nuevo Leon. The wood they used was mainly American elm, but they were also experienced with oak, cedar, mahogany and pine. They used advanced technology, as they knew how to treat wood with steam so it became malleable, a method discovered by noted furniture maker Michael Thonet in Austria during the first half of the nineteenth century. To treat and prevent parasitic wood, employees used a material called Woodtox, which was eventually just pronounced “Jutox”². The huge demand for chairs manufactured by 132
La Malinche grew in a short time and demand prompted the owners to manufacture other kinds of furniture: thus they began making dining rooms, bedrooms, halls, closets, tables, along with their legendary chairs. At the time, it wasn’t common in Mexico to work with designers to determine the stylistic line of furniture. Stores were accustomed to align with European styles and try to replicate the direct furniture catalogs that arrived from Europe. While today, Malinche parts are associated with Danish style, the truth is they were reproduced using elements from several styles, from late nineteen century Austrian design and Danish parts, through to Mexican and Barroque styles and even Early American furniture. The factory was located in the heart of Monterrey, a few blocks from where the Macroplaza stands today. Advertising from the first half of the twentieth century registers there were four phone lines at four different addresses used for sales: Calle Escobedo 888, Calle Madero Pt. 420, Zaragoza y M.M. del Llano, and 5 de mayo y Escobedo. Today, the plot of land where the company once stood has become the CEU Campus America, a private university. The company had up to 3 shifts and hundreds of employees who were responsible for filling massive orders within strict times. A couple of strikes undermined their production and delivery speed, however, the spirit of La Malinche did not diminish. By 1960, labor problems forced the company to reduce its size but it was not until the seventies when a fire ended the furniture manufacturers’ dream. The factory closed down around 1973 with a small yard sale, where a few furniture lovers bought up the last pieces, which are now considered collectors’ items. Production was so large and its quality so sublime that La Malinche furniture can still can be found at flea markets and antique shops in excellent condition, reminding us of Monterrey’s industrial boom an of the dream which was yet to be born. 1 http://www.monterreyculturaindustrial.org/2009/ malinche/museo_malnche.html 2http://juancrouset.blogspot.mx/2011/06/los-mueblesregiomontanos-de-la.html