Teacher Marisela López Romero has dedicated more than two decades to working with plant fibers within crafts; However, she has found a distinctive seal for her products with the fusion of metalwork.
She pointed out that weaving work is an inheritance of several generations; However, as an heir to the tradition she has managed to grow the team of artisans, some with fibers and others with metal.
"The artisan branch that we work is based on the ocoxal, in the workshop, we are eight people who are weaving the ocoxal and nine are dedicated to metalworking, we make different products, we all learned them from our parents, they are things that have happened from generation to generation,” said the teacher.
They innovate by fusing metal with plant fibers to create crafts
She explained that ocoxal is the ideal raw material for popular art, which also ventures into products for the home, because the material is one of the most resistant and, at the same time, can also be very manipulable.
"The ocoxal, as many people know, has to be soaked, we collect the branch, which is very resistant, and we let it soak for a whole night so that it becomes flexible, the important thing is that it does not lose its resistance, once it It can be molded, we can work on practically anything,” the teacher explained.
She assured that there are several pieces made using this technique, all combined with metal.
“At Ocoxal, several products are made, mainly our strong sale is the tortilla rack, laundry baskets, plate holders, also trays, bread baskets, service trays, tequileros. We compact the piece in two ways, in the ocoxal fabric and in the metallurgy work,” he mentioned.
They achieve elegant products
Finally, she explained that metal becomes a complement to craftsmanship, achieving unique details and resistant elements for their pieces, which they consider look more elegant with said fusion.
"To make a tortilla holder, the process is that first we weave the entire round part of the ocoxal, then it is covered and when we finish that work we compact the metal that it will carry, either as accessories or handles and we compact it so that it looks more elegant .