Mexico has an infinite number of traditions and handicrafts that have been maintained through the years in many places of the country, some of them like hidden gems. One of the most popular handicrafts in Mexico is barro negro, a tradition preserved by people from a town called San Bartolo Coyotepec, in the state of Oaxaca.
Barro negro, is a low heat type of pottery known for its black color and ornamental cuts, made by hand, that decorate each piece with a unique pattern. The process to make this type of pottery is one of the most meticulous, it takes at least 20 days and it involves different steps, techniques and requirements that must be strictly followed from the beginning to the end.
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The process of pottery making continued to evolve in the region of Oaxaca and since the XX century, the practice of pottery making with barro negro turned into an artistic oriented practice rather than a function oriented practice, and pieces started being crafted with the characteristic ornamental patterns made through cuts, as well as a shinnier finish through new polish and buffing techniques.
One of the artisans that contributed the most to the process of production of barro negro pieces was Rosa Real Mateo de Nieto (Doña Rosa). She was born in San Bartolo Coyotepec, and as the more than 600 families that dedicate themselves to barro negro pottery, she started practicing pottery when she was 10 years old. In 1953 she invented a technique to give the pieces a shiny finish, rather than a black matte one, by buffing the surface of the fired pieces with a quartz stone.
This technique made the barro negro pottery very attractive to foreigners which helped start the worldwide appreciation to that branch of pottery, it wasn’t long until the quartz buffing technique was adopted around all San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca. Doña Rosa died in 1980 but her workshop was carried on by her son, and her grandchildren are already involved in barro negro pottery to carry on her legacy as a traditional family business.
The process to make a piece of barro negro is one of the most rigorous and time consuming techniques in pottery making. The long artisanal process and detailed steps that give each piece its characteristic black color and pattern are what makes these products so special and worthy of world-wide recognition.
The process begins with the extraction of earth used for the clay; The clay is extracted from the mine Guegove located in the mountain Cerro del Coyote, which is around 2km away from the town’s center. The process starts as a very mystical and rigorous practice, it is believed by the townspeople as a common legend that woman and people who aren’t native to San Bartolo Coyotepec can’t enter the mine because it would make the “Nahual” or protective spirit angry and it could turn the earth rough. Contrary to popular belief, the clay extracted isn’t black, it is the same brown color as many other clays used for pottery.
Once the earth is extracted and transported back to the town, it enters a cleaning process that consists of removing stones and rough parts and passing the clay through a sieve to remove all impurities or stones that could have remained. Afterwards, the cleaned clay is left in the sun and moisturized with water; finalized this step, the clay is ready to be kneaded for molding, some people still knead it with their feet.
After the artisan has finished the desired molded product for the object they’re making, some of the most common products made with barro negro are pans, bells, flutes, masks, animal figurines, decorative skulls, among others. The molded clay is left to dry under solar light for four days, this step is finished when there are no longer moisture stains in the piece, which signals that the piece is completely dry.
When the piece is dry, a damp sponge is passed over the surface to soften and prepare the piece’s surface for the characteristic cuts, lines and patterns. Some of the tools that can be used to decorate each piece are pins, knives, blades, scalpel, stones, among others. To make extravagant patterns through the cuts, the artisan has to be very careful and make only delicate movements; holding the piece with too much pressure could mess up the shape of the whole piece, which makes it a very hard process that is worthy of admiration.
The surface of the piece is then polished with pieces of leather or with crystal quartz, this last technique was introduced in the decade of 1950 by Doña Rosa Real de Nieto; the buffing with a crystal gives barro negro pieces a shiny glow and, after they’re polished, these pieces are left to dry in the sun for another two days.
Once the earth is extracted and transported back to the town, it enters a cleaning process that consists of removing stones and rough parts and passing the clay through a sieve to remove all impurities or stones that could have remained. Afterwards, the cleaned clay is left in the sun and moisturized with water; finalized this step, the clay is ready to be kneaded for molding, some people still knead it with their feet.
Finally, when the pieces are finished firing, most of them are buffed again with stones to give them a shiny finish without the need of adding another material of fired varnish.
Oaxaca, Mexico’s barro negro is famous because of the characteristic black color and because of its finishes like detailed cuts, engraving, and shiny finish.
As for the disadvantages of the material that accompany barro negro pieces, since the material the material has no lid of a different material, the products can absorb oddors and filter the liquid easily, they can’t be used in a microwave and it’s not recommended to use them as pots for plants because the liquid can break the clay.
For this reason, the clay is not very resistant to heavy duty and the pieces made of barro negro are mostly decorative; hoewever, throughout the history and culture of state of Oaxaca, families have used functional products made of barro negro. Specifically in San Bartolo de Coyotepec, barro negro has sustained the economy of the town since decades ago, in part because of the decorative handicrafts sold but also because they started making functional products, such as drinking jugs to store water that were one of the first products that the townspeople began selling to the rest of the states from Valles Centrales in Mexico.
There are many ways in which barro negro can be an element in interior design, considering that it’s a type of pottery that takes a lot of time to give the finished and details, therefore turning it into a product to be displayed rather than be used. In contemporary homes and in foreign collectors’ homes, barro negro can be found as pots, candle holders, decorative figurines, decorative elements in the kitchen, vases, among other objects.
Additionally, barro negro, being a form of pottery making, can also be used as a ceramic finish for walls in the same way that ceramic tiles are used to decorate a wall’s finish look. It is not a very common practice since the process to make barro negro pieces is a very tedious and long one, but in 2017 a restaurant opened in Dubai and the interior design features mexican contemporary design, having a barro negro tiles wall as the principal accent wall.
Arq. Director Enrique Ralph 328 m² of construction
Sordo Madaleno Architectures is a Mexican architectural firm established in 1937. They were in charge of the interior design of the restaurant in Dubai called “Peyote”, which wanted to introduce real mexican contemporary style to a part of the world that is very far away from it. Every element from design and ornamental detail is based on mexican decorative elements, which are expressed in an unconventional way that they would be represented traditionally by artisans; among the elements that conform the design you can find copper details, artisanal textiles, and a big wall made of barro negro mosaics imported from Oaxaca.
The introduction of barro negro to interior design as a material finish is a new step to bring Mexican culture into contemporary interior design; it is a practice out of the ordinary but it could be a new path to to reinvent how Mexican artisans and their handicrafts are perceived and valued as a detailed and expensive element in design..
Peyote Dubai Sordo Madaleno
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