Talavera

Edith took Melissa, Ceci, and me (the three U.S. teachers) to a talavera shop near our school to select the design for a tile (azulejo) for each of us, her last gift to us. In truth, her enduring gift has been her friendship, kindness, understanding, and support as she guided and included us in all aspects of our work here. She allowed us to ease into our jobs by saying, "Take it easy the first week or so while you adjust to the altitude." Mexico City is more than 7000 feet above sea level, and adjusting to this altitude does indeed take a toll on one's energy. She included us in all social events of our colleagues, a closely knit group of amigos: Amparo's retirement, Lulu's baby shower, Independence Day celebrations, American desserts at our Thanksgiving, a Posada at Christmas, the tamaliza in February, an end- of-year party next Saturday. She took us on a tour of little known and fascinating parts of the city, with her as the guide. She knew how much we wanted to explore other parts of the country and cut us some slack now and again to travel more.

And she took us to this shop for our tiles. Here are the man who helped us design our azulejos and, bent over her work, a woman in the back painting some tiles. Each tile is hand-painted and then fired in a kiln. We assured the man as we left that we would be happy with his work, and he replied as he kissed our hands, "Claro, lo hago con todo amor." (Of course, I do it with much love.)


"Talavera" is a term used loosely for all hand-painted pottery and tiles, but authentic talavera, made only in Puebla, must adhere to strict guidelines of material, design, and process. Only 18 shops in Puebla are authorized to use the official Talavera stamp. The Puebla-Cholula area was already noted for its own fine pottery before the Spanish introduced techniques from Talavera de la Reina in Spain. Now Puebla is THE place to go for serious Talavera shoppers.

Ceci, Nancy, and I enjoyed shopping for Talavera in Puebla two weekends ago. Here are some photos from the Talavera de la Luz shop.

I thought my shopping was over until we went to the Museo Amparo, which has an exceptionally fine pre-Columbian collection, intelligently and beautifully displayed. At the end of our tour I stopped in the Talavera de la Reyna shop on the ground floor and immediately found a design I love, so I bought a small plate. Bill and I went back to Puebla last weekend and got four place settings.

Much of the talavera that people buy is only for decoration, because it contains lead. Authentic Talavera must be lead-free, so we will be able to use this every day, a beautiful reminder of this wonderful year in Mexico.

Here are more photos of tiles used in Puebla to decorate cupolas, walls, churches, kitchens. They add to the visual delight of Puebla. Often tiles and red brick form a pattern.






Most spectacular is this church in Ecatepec, between Puebla and Cholola, whose facade is covered in azulejos made specifically for this purpose.