Mexico is typically related to its artisanal, joyous and colorful side, especially when thinking about décor and interior design. However, not all Mexican rooms have to have the usual amount of bright pinks, happy yellows and mysterious purples you often see in places designed for a more touristy crowd. Mexican interior design has been brought into the global scene as a result of its simplicity, beautiful aesthetics and the use of color, contrast and textures. Each season a growing number of Mexican studios create new interpretations of the design elements that made Mexican design famous in the early twentieth century: bold colors, ceramics and pottery, embroidery and lace. This movement is being received with unanimous acclaim in the style-savvy circles and its popularity continues to grow and inspire many other designers and architects.
So, what makes Mexican design so fashionable? Is it the use of color, proportions or the reduction of features and the simplicity of the design what makes it so popular? Definitely Mexican design as a whole gives us a wide array of reasons why it is so popular, but when adding décor and focal points to our home or our apartment we can work with just a few elements and still have that accomplished, up-scale feeling everyone’s after.
Mexican interior design has been brought into the global scene as a result of its simplicity, beautiful aesthetics and the use of color, contrast and textures.
Textiles
Using only the best fabrics and giving appropriate texture and balance to each piece is quite a feat, yet it is easily accomplished by Mexican artisans and weavers. Having a long tradition in textiles and using fibers ranging from jute and wool to cotton and silk, Mexican weavers are skilled in dyeing them with the most bold and eye-catching colors and weaving the most capricious patterns. Modern Mexican textile design maintains and makes a new interpretation of these traditional techniques and patterns, making them easy to blend and becoming a fabulous focal point: in your foyer as a wooly and welcoming rug, on a sofa as a throw blanket, maybe on a side table as a decorative rebozo tablecloth or on your favorite couch or your bed as an attention-grabbing cushion or pillow.
Ceramics
Ceramics in Mexico date back thousands of years before the Pre-Columbian period and its tradition is more alive than ever. Three world-renowned design styles from Mexican ceramics can be easily placed in your home and become not only a focal but a talking point as well: Oaxaca’s barro negro, with its pitch black vessels and jugs, sometimes in an oversize scale that makes them ideal for big rooms with open spaces; the talavera from Puebla, with its intricate designs and white-blue contrast which makes it an eyecatching piece; and the modern pottery, inspired by ancient and traditional figures and techniques but experimenting with different textures, finishings and uses.
Typical Mexican furniture
We are not talking of the rustic headboard and armoire in your hotel room last time you went to San Miguel, but of real Mexican furniture with regional wood and fibers and modern-yet-traditionally inspired design. Think about bringing some leather bound stools to your bar, maybe some hand-woven rattan for the veranda and a minimalistic sofa inspired by the architecture of Luis Barragán made on palo de rosa or solid oak wood. Spruce it up with some throw pillows and you have a modern Mexican masterpiece you wouldn’t want to sit up from!
