Rugs, Wall Hangings and Pottery
At the corner of Alvaro Obregon and Abel Salgado, San Patricio-Melaque, Jalisco, Mexico you will find one of the most interesting shops in the area. The shop is just in front of Saint Parick's church.
Reynaldo Vazquez and his wife Teresa Gutierrez along
with their two of their three children Jessica and Reynaldo, Jr. run
this wonderful shop.
Tapetes
The rugs that you find in the shop are made in Oaxaca by the family and
brought to be sold here in the Melaque area in December. The family normally
returns home in March.
The "tapetes" are made of 100% lambs wool that the family cuts, combs,
spins, dyes and then weaves. The dyes are natural dyes that the family
prepares from local insects, plants and flowers. These tapetes are not
factory made. Although some may be similar, no two are identical since they
are each individually designed and made. The designs and processes have
been passed from generation to generation.
Reynaldo is the producer of the traditional Zapotec designs while Teresa is
the main weaver of the products. You will see that no one is exclusive to
any one part of the process
Each of the medium sized rugs takes approximately
two weeks of work to produce. These are hand made,
hand produced works of art that would be appropriate
in any home. Buy one, take it home and love it.