{"product_id":"tlacolula-telar-toy-collection","title":"Tlacolula Telar Toy Collection","description":"\u003cp\u003ePart of the Tlacolula Telar Toy Collection, each animal is made from cotton cloth woven on a pedal loom, then cut, assembled, and stitched by hand in Oaxaca. Contrasting sections of patterned fabric give each figure its particular character, while buttons, felt, and embroidered details bring the animals quietly to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMade for small hands but beautiful enough to remain long after childhood, each toy carries the irregularities of handwoven cloth and hand construction. No two are exactly alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFound at the Sunday market in Tlacolula. Available in five figures: Blue Whale, Red and Black Rabbit, Brown Rabbit, Gray Dinosaur, and Purple Elephant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e8\" x 8\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCare\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDry clean only.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Tlacolula Market\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEvery Sunday, Tlacolula becomes one of the oldest continuously operating markets in Mesoamerica. Its origins reach back to the pre-Hispanic trade networks of the Oaxaca Valley and to a system in which neighboring towns held their markets on different days, allowing vendors to carry food, pottery, textiles, tools, and household goods from community to community. But Tlacolula has never been only a place of commerce. Families travel from across the valley and from distant regions to trade, eat, exchange news, meet relatives, and maintain connections between communities. Multiple forms of Zapotec can still be heard alongside other Indigenous languages, while clothing, food, and objects often reveal exactly where their makers have come from. Tlacolula is not a market preserved for visitors. It is a living social and commercial system, one of the few places in Mexico where an ancient regional network remains visibly intact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout Oaxaca\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI arrived in Oaxaca unexpectedly twenty-six years ago, and it stole my heart. I have lived and worked there ever since, building Oax-i-fornia: a project that brings artisans, designers, and students together to create new work while learning from the knowledge already held within Oaxaca's communities. Set in the mountains of southern Mexico, Oaxaca remained relatively isolated from the country's industrial development well into the twentieth century. The Pan-American Highway reached the city in the 1940s, opening it more fully to tourism and the rest of Mexico. Long before that, its fertility and wealth were recognized by the Spanish Crown, which granted Hernán Cortés the title Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca in 1529. Conquest transformed the region, but it did not erase its extraordinary diversity. Across Oaxaca, Indigenous communities retained languages, forms of local government, communal relationships to the land, and highly specific ways of making the objects required for daily life. This is why craft in Oaxaca is not simply a decorative tradition. In many communities, it remains part of the working infrastructure of the home. Metates still grind corn; molcajetes prepare sauces; comales cook tortillas much as they have for generations. Traditions are not static. Black clay, once used primarily for practical water vessels, became increasingly polished and ornamental during the twentieth century. New forms, markets, and collaborations continue to change what is made. Yet the knowledge behind these objects remains intensely local, rooted in particular soils, plants, tools, foods, and communities. Even today, Oaxaca continues to shape how I understand design: not as something imposed upon an object, but as knowledge accumulated through use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout Handmade Pieces\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCrafted by hand using techniques passed down through generations of master artisans. Variations in color, texture, and finish are inherent to the process; each piece is, by nature, one of a kind.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Embajada Craft","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51989573173533,"sku":null,"price":95.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0800\/1185\/4109\/files\/TT-RABITred2HERO.jpg?v=1784596212","url":"https:\/\/laembajada.shop\/products\/tlacolula-telar-toy-collection","provider":"La Embajada","version":"1.0","type":"link"}