DECADES OF LIVING, TRAVELING AND MAKING ALONGSIDE THE FINEST ARTISANS IN MEXICO
FROM EXCLUSIVE UTILITARIAN HOUSEWARES TO unique VINTAGE & CRAFT FINDS AND THE SIGNATURE WORK OF EMBAJADA ORIGINAL, EVERYTHING IS HANDMADE, REFLECTING THE PERSONAL VIEW OF MEXICO FROM DESIGNER RAÚL CABRA.
JUST ARRIVED
from Oaxaca
21 Years of Oaxifornia
Twenty-one years ago this August, I held the first Oaxifornia workshop for my alma mater, the California College of the Arts (CCA). It was an immediate success: three weeks of immersion in the world of making in Oaxaca, and an experiment in using design as a tool for exchange and social change.
Students and artisans worked side by side, watching how someone from another world thinks, makes and solves. Language, far from becoming an obstacle, became a catalyst. Making substituted for words. Generosity became a method. Knowledge moved in both directions.
What emerged were surprising objects that seemed to oscillate between worlds: contemporary yet rooted in tradition, practical yet conceptual, Oaxacan yet universal.
That was the beginning of Oaxifornia. And, in time, Embajada.
Raul Cabra
Founder & Creative Director
PROPER HOTELS SPOTLIGHT
A Collaboration with THE KELLY WEARSTLER studio
The Room Glass began with the Old Fashioned, specified for the guest rooms at Proper Hotels in Santa Monica, DTLA and Austin. Its rounded amber base and subtle iridescence give the handblown glass a warm, shifting glow.
What began in the guest room became one of Oaxifornia’s most enduring pieces, eventually growing into a full family of shapes for cocktails, wine, water and coffee.
