Hecho en México: Felipe Juárez, San Miguel weaver

Every Saturday, Felipe Elías Juárez sits astatine Mercado Sano successful San Miguel de Allende, his reddish shot headdress hardly disposable down stacks of colorful woven rugs, an creation signifier he’s been perfecting since property 15. Today, his intricate designs of cacti, whimsical geometric shapes, and accepted Calaveras adorn the floors and walls of clients arsenic acold distant arsenic New Zealand, but Felipe’s communicative is astir much than his craft; it’s besides astir lessons successful patience and relying connected others erstwhile calamity strikes.

Through Felipe’s story, we debut “Hecho en México,” a caller bid that goes beyond the trade to observe the humans down Mexico’s vibrant originative landscape. Through idiosyncratic stories of painters, potters, rug weavers and more, we’ll research the traditions, challenges and triumphs that thrust these creatives to stock their endowment with the world, portion preserving Mexico’s affluent creator heritage. 

Juárez weaves a rug astatine the location of his friend, Luis, wherever they some collaborate connected a shared loom.

A trade rooted successful San Miguel tradition

Barely retired of simple schoolhouse successful his autochthonal San Miguel, Felipe worked unusual operation jobs to assistance his family. Sensing his lad had a antithetic aptitude, his begetter introduced a teenage Felipe to his bully person Casimiro Amaro, a renowned  80-year-old weaver successful the San Miguel community, who archetypal taught him the basics of weaving. 

“The process was precise rustic and manual,” Felipe recalls, describing what happens to wool aft it’s sheared disconnected sheep — from scouring to combing it to abstracted the fibers and hole them for spinning. “There, I learned the instauration of weaving, similar however to warp the thread.” 

Throughout his big life, Felipe moved betwixt workshops and teachers, each challenging his skills and nurturing his emotion for the art. He learned to marque blankets with tassels, the accepted woven garments called cotorinas, abbreviated vests and rugs, utilizing the earthy colour variations of wool and dyes to make designs similar maguey agaves. 

Twelve years ago, helium felt a calling to motorboat a concern of his own. 

“In a job, it’s ever for the boss, and I wanted to basal out, but indecision didn’t assistance me. I was ever a small afraid,” Felipe says, recalling however helium felt erstwhile helium struck out. “But successful the end, I’m inactive here, convey God.”

Felipe and the largest loom helium uses — again, successful collaboration with his friend, Luis — to make the largest rugs successful his inventory.

Over the adjacent 9 years, Felipe grew a concern retired of his location that could prolong his household of 10. He wove connected 3 looms, from 1–3 meters successful width. Then, connected the fateful nighttime of Dec. 12, 2021 — the feast time of Our Lady of Guadalupe — everything changed. 

The nighttime of the fire

“We could perceive fireworks, the joyousness of the celebration,” Felipe tells the story, his code turning somber. “We were astir to autumn dormant erstwhile 1 of my sons started yelling, ‘Dad, get out, it’s burning!’”

A tiny footwear mill successful the basement of his gathering had caught fire, forcing implicit 200 radical to evacuate. No lives were lost, but Felipe astir mislaid his livelihood. He was forced to permission down rugs, earthy materials and his 3 looms, not to notation his family’s belongings. 

“Everything went downhill,” Felipe says of that time, his eyes downcast. “We stood there, watching, feeling the vigor and the fume from acold away, and we couldn’t bash anything.” 

Along with their belongings, the independency Felipe had built for himself and his household vanished, and they were forced to trust connected others. An older lad took successful the household — Felipe, his wife, mother, his 2 younger kids inactive surviving astatine home, his member and his brother’s family. A puerility person and chap weaver, Luis, stepped in, lending Felipe looms truthful helium could get backmost to enactment quickly.

Felipe and his wife, Librada, astatine the Mercado Sano successful San Miguel, showing disconnected 1 of Felipe’s maguey (agave plant) designs.

“It’s been hard, but what has helped maine the astir is patience,” Felipe says, recalling what he’s learned from the experience. “There are times erstwhile you consciousness frustrated, but you person to respire and number to 10. There’s nary constituent successful getting desperate. If you person patience, things volition autumn into place.” 

New life, caller designs

Today, Felipe inactive works astatine the location of his person Luis, who is besides his concern collaborator. Depending connected the project, they’ll often weave together, utilizing a loom that takes up an full country astatine 4 meters, oregon 13 feet wide, a occupation that requires 2 people.  

Gradually, Felipe is rebuilding a location for his household successful the countryside adjacent to wherever his older lad lives. As it turns out, they’ve welcomed the alteration of scenery. 

“My woman loves it due to the fact that the presumption of the hills is beautiful. It refreshes you,” helium says of his caller surroundings. “Where we lived earlier was precise small, but here, you’re free, you spot different horizons.” 

The caller scenery has besides breathed caller beingness into Felipe’s work. 

Felipe’s geometric rug designs usage dye and the earthy colour variations successful sheep’s wool.

“When I locomotion successful nature, it fills my mind. Cacti, especially, animate me,” Felipe says, explaining however whenever helium sees a striking representation successful nature, helium takes a photograph of it and sends it to his son, who past creates a integer mentation and prints it to his dad’s specifications, for a caller rug. 

“I’ve besides woven the Parroquia earlier — the celebrated San Miguel church — twice,” Felipe shares with a arrogant smile. “That plan takes a agelong clip due to the fact that I usage precise good wool to seizure each detail. Some projects instrumentality a agelong time, but they’re worthy it.” 

Keeping the bequest alive

With rising worldly costs and the tendency to prosecute much profitable careers among younger generations, the fig of workshops dedicated to weaving successful San Miguel has been declining, according to Felipe. 

“The wool, immoderate radical inactive bargain it, but they privation to wage excessively small for it, considering the magnitude of enactment that goes into the process,” helium says.  

Felipe has tried to sphere the creation by teaching his kids however to weave, but they chose antithetic paths — 1 successful construction, different successful gardening, for example. 

For six years, Felipe besides taught weaving arsenic a unpaid astatine Ojalá Niños, a nonprofit successful San Miguel Viejo that offers after-school classes to children successful the arts, euphony and literacy. He would thrust his bicycle for an hr each way, doubly a week, trusting that helium was making a quality successful the lives of aboriginal generations. 

As helium thinks astir retiring successful the future, Felipe sees himself moving a weaving schoolhouse successful San Miguel 1 day, for kids, tourists oregon conscionable radical who privation to larn to bash what helium does. 

“For me, teaching was a beauteous experience,” Felipe says, smiling. “When you thatch from the heart, giving thing of what you know, it feels adjacent better.” 

What’s adjacent for Felipe Juárez 

Felipe displays and sells his enactment wherever possible, specified arsenic successful the upcoming Feria Artesanal, happening April 23—27 (from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.) successful San Miguel de Allende’s main square. 

In betwixt bigger fairs, Felipe faithfully shows up each Saturday astatine the Mercado Sano with Librada by his side. There, helium displays rugs, blankets, vests and different designs portion handing retired concern cards. He lacks the e-commerce know-how to showcase his products online, but he’d emotion to learn. 

“What I emotion the astir is weaving, the mode that it engages the hands, the eyes, the mind, the feet,” Felipe reflects erstwhile asked astir his favourite portion of the business. “And my biggest precedence is that the lawsuit is happy. This, successful turn, makes maine blessed due to the fact that they are taking a merchandise that I made with my ain hands.” 

If you’d similar to link with Felipe and presumption his work, you tin sojourn his colorful rug-stacked array connected Saturdays astatine Mercado Sano betwixt 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. oregon astatine the upcoming Feria Artesanal (April 23–27) successful the main quadrate — known arsenic the Jardín — successful the bosom of downtown San Miguel. You tin besides interaction him via WhatsApp astatine +52 415-101-2075. Felipe welcomes the accidental to larn e-commerce skills from idiosyncratic who would similar to thatch him. He besides makes beautiful, commissioned one-of-a-kind designs. Simply nonstop him a photo, and he’ll enactment with you to bring your imaginativeness to life!  

Karla Parra is simply a Mexican-American writer calved and raised successful Mexico. While moving connected her memoir, Karla writes Coloring Across Lines on Substack and works with the squad down the yearly San Miguel Writers’ Conference. You tin find her connected Instagram @karlaexploradora.