La Embajada brings together more than two decades of living, traveling and making, always alongside some of the finest artisans in Mexico. Everything at La Embajada is made by hand, from the utilitarian Oax-i-fornia objects in CASA to the singular vintage and craft finds in Colección and the signature and custom work of Embajada Original. Together they reflect a highly personal view of Mexico, shaped by the eye of designer Raúl Cabra.
JUST ARRIVED
from Oaxaca
21 Years of Oax-i-fornia
Twenty-one years ago this August, I held the first Oax-i-fornia workshop for my alma mater, the California College of the Arts (CCA). It was three weeks immersed 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, learning how people with different experiences think, make and solve. Language, rather than becoming an obstacle, became a catalyst. Making replaced 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.
Over time, Oax-i-fornia grew beyond the workshop into an ongoing design practice. Across twenty-one years, our Oaxacan team has worked with hundreds of artisans, at times with entire communities, sometimes with workshops and often with individual makers. That work has created opportunities for their knowledge and making to enter hospitality projects around the world. The experimentation of the workshops remains at its core, alongside a growing body of utilitarian objects developed through projects and made for daily life.
That evolution eventually gave rise to La Embajada, where objects first developed in the workshops live alongside pieces created years later through projects and collaborations. The experimental and the useful continue to share the same space, carrying forward the ideas that have shaped Oax-i-fornia from the beginning.
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 Oax-i-fornia’s most enduring pieces, eventually growing into a full family of shapes for cocktails, wine, water and coffee.
