bright boxes

Decorate your home in style with this bright and sunny tissue box cover from Mexico. By Juana Ponce, the cover is crafted from ceramic, featuring colorful floral motifs that are painted by hand in the style of Talavera handicrafts.

A traditional pattern of spirals, round shapes and geometric formations embellish this sturdy decorative box crafted in the beautiful Balinese Islands. Artisan Citra puts into practice her hand-carving techniques and creates this superb accessory, which includes a lid for a classic style. On top of that, this albesia wood home accent comes in a palette of bright natural colors for a tropical style.

The sun, the shaman, and the peyote flower are all sacred symbols of Huichol cosmogony now on display on this jewelry box from Mexico. Ana Maria González masters decoupage techniques on a pinewood jewelry box featuring a top deck with three compartments and a lower drawer.

Originally from Yunan in China, Akha people live in Thailand's northern hills. Akha women are well known for their spectacular traditional costumes which include a headdress, a jacket worn over a halter-like garment, a short skirt, a sash with decorated ends, and leggings. Akha artisan Thikaporn is proud to present this stunning headdress, hand-crafted by her own mother, Sadaporn. She adorns the cotton headdress with myriad aluminum beads and pendants, as well as Thai coins dating from 1952 to 1965. Brightly colored beads carved of little leaf boxwood and glass, as well as feathers, complete the stunning design of this headdress.

The Akha people are a proud and timeless culture, struggling to preserve their ancestral values through their traditional skills and knowledge. Akhas believe in continuity and see themselves as a link in the chain of life, which includes birth, procreation, the preservation of the Akha way of life – which venerates family life – and death, seen as a meeting with their ancestors.

Grinning Catrina frolics in a decoupage collage as Ana María González commemorates Day of the Dead with a colorful treasure chest. The word catrina is widely used in Mexico to mean "elegant and polished." Lithographer Jose Guadalupe Posadas created the skeletal Catrina, who was later immortalized in the murals of Diego Rivera. In Mexico, the Day of the Dead is about celebrating the life of those who have passed, rather than mourning their deaths. People visit graves with offerings, including bright floral displays.

Part of NOVICA's Dia de los Muertos collection.

A brilliant painted wood box opens to reveal handcrafted masks. Used during the Carnival celebrations preceding Lent, they show an astonishing array of animals, human and fantasy faces. Alejandro Chávez displays them in a traditional diorama, known as a retablo; each figurine is modeled by hand.