artists around the world

Doña Tomasa will grace your home like nobody else - dead or alive! Luis Morales handcrafts this supremely elegant Catrina sculpture from ceramic and clads her in a gorgeous floral apron and skirt. She wears a traditional deep blue rebozo shawl over her head and carries beautifully detailed ceramic pottery in her hands.

Luis Morales comes from a generations-long tradition of artisans. His favorite items to craft are Catrina figures because of their unique iconography.

Husband and wife duo Zeny and Reyna from Oaxaca grew up with the tradition of carving alebrijes (fantastical figurines of real and imagined animals); both of their parents were master carvers in that region's traditional folk art. Here they create a wildly colorful dragon in a contorted, acrobatic pose. The dragon is carved by hand from copal wood and painted in a rainbow of psychedelic colors.

Small parts are separated for shipping to protect from breakage.It is said that Oaxaca's alebrije tradition descends directly from Mexico City artisan Pedro Linares (1906-1992). When he was 30, he became seriously ill and fell into a sort of coma. While he was unconscious, he had a most fantastic dream. He was caught between the land of the living and the dead; the place looked like a forest and was populated with creatures with body parts belonging to different animals. The beings repeatedly uttered the word alebrije, and when Linares woke up, he recreated these figures in vivid colors using papier mache techniques and called them alebrijes . His work became famous and eventually influenced artisans in the state of Oaxaca who decided to craft alebrijes using traditional wood carving methods and according to that region's world vision.

Day of the Dead is a Mexican celebration renowned around the world for motifs like calacas, which are human skull or skeleton figures painted with lively colors and patterns. Artisan Margarita Revilla crafts and paints by hand this calaca-inspired ceramic magnet in light pink so you can take home a little part of this unique festivity.