MAKING AND IDENTITY
Oaxaca
In February 2024, a cohort of cultural leaders—curators, designers, educators, and institution heads—joined us for a four-day immersion: Making and Identity in Oaxaca. Through our experiences together and with our site partners, we gained insight into building creative communities and centering our work in purpose.
Oaxaca is an authentic, idiosyncratic design mecca.
The region bears a history of colonization and subsequent economic struggle, yet Oaxaca has put itself on the map as a globally-sought after design destination.
Oaxaca’s creative ecosystem’s success is largely the result of its unique cross-disciplinary arts culture. Creative leaders combine mediums across culinary arts, hospitality, and artisanal crafts, generating a distinct regional character and identity.
Our immersion directly introduced the cohort to the wisdom and inspirations of those at the forefront of the region’s creative practices.
“Art is not as democratic as we claim it is… Art can be a barrier.”
— Rame Cuen, Gallerist/Hotelier/Artist
Gallerist, hotelier, artist, and creative investor, Rame Cuen kicked off the immersion with a gallery talk at La Clínica, a project space at the intersection of community, design, art, and hospitality. The building hosts private rooms for rent, an artist residency home and studio, an event space, gallery and cafe open to the public all under one roof.
Rame discussed the importance of creating a space accessible to the entire neighborhood in order to change the narrative of elitism in art.
“Cooking brings me life. That's what makes me happy… All of this [Nois restaurant] could be gone tomorrow, but I’d keep cooking and I’d be happy.”
— Rodrigo Amaury, Chef Founder of Nois
Following our gallery visit, we gathered at Nois with Chef Founder Rodrigo Amaury. Rodrigo further highlighted Oaxaca’s cross disciplinary creative scene by extolling play as a central tenet of his creative practice.
Origen’s Chef Owner Rodolfo Castellanos, who won Top Chef Mexico, introduced us to his unconventional approach to culinary arts. In a restaurant-turned-experiential workshop, Chef Rodolfo transforms food into an educational experience that celebrates traditional and indigenous Oaxacan cuisine.
Chef Rodolfo guided us through an open-air market in the city center, working with us to select local produce for the day’s lunch. Together with the chef, the cohort learned Oaxacan flavors and cooking techniques in an outdoor kitchen at Oa Cafe + Studio.
“There are many threats to ingredients, so I want to preserve them, honor them… But my approach to foreign audiences has to be different. When other minds come to Oaxaca, they see things differently. Together with our knowledge, we can approach these ingredients in new ways.”
— Rodolfo Castellanos, Chef Founder of Origen
Miku Meko blends retail, educational programming, and economic development in one textile studio. The studio exemplifies Oaxaca’s interest in breaking down barriers between techniques and industries. Shibori Master Roman Gutierrez Ruiz led our cohort through a hands-on workshop at Miku Meko that mergedJapanese techniques and Oaxacan materials to create an experience and product specific to Oaxaca.
“Find what your gift is and give that gift to the world.”
— Polo, 1050 Grados Collective member and ceramicist
With a discussion about their seven principles and an introduction to a member of their ceramicist collective, 1050 Grados invited our Making and Identity in Oaxaca cohort to think about when and how tradition gives way to mass production and how we as designers can prioritize people and culture over immediacy and capital gains.
We’ve asked the ceramicists in our collective why do you continue working if it's so hard and you're not getting enough money? And they said, “This is our craft, our livelihood. This is what we do. But also, this is what we love doing. And this is what our ancestors did.”
Would you continue doing your work if you were not getting a big payment? Would you continue just out of love? Out of respect for and connection to your history?
— Kynthzia Barrera, 1050 Grados Founder
Political artist collective Colectivo Subterráneos welcomed our immersion participants to their studio to explore the intersection of art and activism. Together, we discussed Mexican history and Oaxaca’s specific cultural context, particularly the student-led political movement that began in 2006 with demands for public arts education. At the collective, we continued a conversation we started at 1050 Grados, thinking about our role as creative leaders in fostering community.
During our visit to mezcal farm Lalocura, Maestro Eduardo Ángeles showed us the importance of preserving knowledge and tradition to ensure the sustainable use of the community’s natural resources. We spent time thinking about the circular economy, and the necessary relationship between preservation and evolution.
In a piece for Peru’s major business newspaper, Gestión, cohort member Rodrigo Isasi summarized the experience and the opportunities that we will find through intergenerational intelligence: Intergenerational intelligence: What is it and how does it help companies?
A forthcoming findings report will include reflections from our cohort, including the questions we left with.
How does money influence my work, mission, and impact?
What role does my body play in my work?
How are our personal values related to our paid work?
What skills, practices, and knowledge do I want to pass on to the next generation?
What can I do to repair what is broken?
What does nature teach us?
CREDITS
JENNY GENSTERBLUM
Chef & Co-Host
MAURO FRANCISCO SARABIA GARCIA
Linguist & Translator
DYLAN CHANDLER
Photographer
NIKI NAKAZAWA
Founder, Neta Spirits
RODOLFO CASTELLANOS
Chef Owner, Origen
EDUARDO ÁNGELES
Maestro, Lalocura
KYNTHZIA BARRERA
Founder, 1050 Grados
RAME CUEN
Owner, Cuen Gallery
RODRIGO AMAURY
Chef Founder, Nois
ANTONIO PEÑA
Centro de Artes Textiles de Oaxaca CATO
DARINKA MOHER
Colectivo Subterráneos