Mexican lacquerware (laca or maque in Mexican Spanish) is one of the country's oldest crafts, having independent origins from Asian lacquerware. In the pre-Hispanic period, a greasy substance from the aje larvae and/or oil from the chia seed were mixed with powdered minerals to create protective coatings and decorative designs. During this period, the process was almost always applied to dried gourds, especially to make the cups that Mesoamerican nobility drank chocolate from. After the Conquest, the Spanish had indigenous craftsmen apply the technique to European style furniture and other items, changing the decorative motifs and color schemes, but the process and materials remained mostly the same. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the craft waned during armed conflicts and returned, both times with changes to the decorative styles and especially in the 20th century, to production techniques. Today, workshops creating these works are limited to Olinalá, Temalacatzingo and Acapetlahuaya in the state of Guerrero, Uruapan and Pátzcuaro in Michoacán and Chiapa de Corzo in Chiapas.
Guerrero
Olinalá
The Mexican state of Guerrero is located to the southwest of Mexico City and is home to three towns that make lacquered products, Olinalá, Temalacatzingo and Acapetlahuaya. The state has a large indigenous population and a strong handcraft tradition. Lacquerware from the state includes utensils, gourds, chests and other furniture, storage boxes, toy cars and helicopters, trays and even musical instruments. Guerrero lacquerware from Olinalá and to some extent Temalacatzingo became popularized in the 1970s, and its success has allowed many migrant workers to return home to the town, but there are still high rates of migration out, especially young people, to Mexico City and the United States.
The town of Olinalá is located in the mountains of the Sierra Madre del Sur, and its wares are the most widely known. While pieces are 10 to 50% cheaper in Olinalá, the town is hard to get to. Instead wares are sold in many areas of Mexico and are featured at an important craft fair in Tepalcingo, Morelos, held the third week of Lent, the San Juan Market in Mexico City, and have been exhibited in New York and Japan. Although documented in the 1920s by Rene d’Harmoncourt, the craft almost disappeared from Olinalá by the 1960s, with only twenty master craftsmen left. In the 1970s, writer Carlos Espejel popularized it through his work. Today almost all the families in the town are involved in production, and it is the main producer of lacquerware in Mexico. The craft is the main source of income for the town, producing chests, trays, platters, boxes, paneled screens and furniture (usually done on commission). Even the parish church's columns are lacquered, in a style called rayado.
Olinalá lacquerware is divided into two types, depending on the decoration technique used, called rayado (scratched) and aplicado (apliqué). The latter is also sometimes called dorado (gilded) because of the past use of gold paint or gold leaf, which has made something of a comeback. Rayado is the more complicated of the two. The name comes from the use of an agave thorn or quill to etch designs. One coat is applied to the piece then dried completely. A second coat is applied and while still wet, this layer is removed in places to reveal the first color and create abstract designs and figures such as animal and humans. Most pieces are two-toned: black and red or blue and white. In large pieces, such as chests, abstract designs are combined with figurative, usually flowers and are highly symmetrical. Highly skilled artisans can create two-tone pieces that look like lace or repeat the process to have three or even more colors.
Applicado is where the designs are painted onto a base coat, a technique also done in other parts of Mexico. This work traces back to at least the 18th century, and while may include motifs such as patriotic symbols, most are not Mexican, but instead stylized flowers, European landscapes and images from Asia. The two techniques can be combined, which is called punteado (dotted), were small dots are painted in areas that are not etched. This became popular starting at the end of the 1970s. Like rayado pieces, animals, flowers and geometrical designs are prevalent and all available space is filled.