Maison Marcoux Mexico
Sylvain Marcoux has always been a lover of fine arts and design.
This Canadian exiled in Paris continues his journey by presenting ancestral know-how made in Mexico reinterpreted by contemporary designers.
Words by Katia Kulawick-Assante
Collection Mezcallienne Designed by Constance Guisset. Photo ©Francis Amiand
What is the history of this Mezcalienne collection imagined by Constance Guisset?
It has 7 vases and a decanter, produced in 10 copies, plus two artist's proofs. They are all made in black earth from Mexico, cooked in ovens buried underground. This earth is incredible because its finish gives the imposition of a metallic effect, as if it were bronze or zinc ... Our ceramists in the Oaxaca region do not work with molds, each piece is made and polished to hand, fired and annealed before being thrown into the sawdust, which gives it this exterior grain, this relief and makes it unique. They also use the Penado technique - tooth comb - to create texture.
The first artisans we contacted wanted to make molds and have teenagers polishing them by hand for Mexican tourism, but I said I was not interested in that. We do not have the same vision of craftsmanship. Of course, it’s artisanal, but it’s a market that doesn’t interest me. Later on, we noticed that the grandmother did everything by hand, so we chose that option. This is the region of mezcal - hence the name of the mezcalian collection -. I find that we have lost the utilitarian side of the object and what interests me in design is also its usefulness. The mezcal is kept in small vials closed with a cork stopper, so we decided to add to each vase this final, movable piece, made by cutting a traditional mezcal bottle.
How did you choose Constance Guisset for this first collaboration ?
When I launched Maison Marcoux Mexico in 2018, Constance had great news at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. She doesn't work much in the dark, and I thought the exercise could be interesting. For me, it was also important to arrive in Mexico with a woman designer, because it is certainly an open country, but at the same time very macho. And when we talk about craftsmanship, it is especially women who do it, as in textiles or obsidian. They are the ones who work, who get their hands dirty, even if the men bring the land back from the mountains. However, I have never seen a woman designer in Mexico. Since its creation in 2019, the collection has not stopped traveling: to Paris (Galerie Froissart, Musée quai Branly, Institut Culturel du México, Bon Marché), Limoges, London Design Fair, Brussels, Design Week Mexico, etc. .
“Our ceramists in the Oaxaca region do not work with molds, each piece is made and polished to hand, fired and annealed before being thrown into the sawdust, which gives it this exterior grain, this relief and makes it unique.”
Sylvain Marcoux
Vase n°2 and its soliflore. 2018
Matière: Black earth
12,0 x 13,6 cm
Made in: Santa Maria Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico
Introduce us to Maison Marcoux Mexico…
The goal of MMM is to bring different European artists and designers to work and to make them meet Mexican materials and crafts. My company is Mexican, my site is Mexican, I am not a gringo arriving in unknown territory, it is a global project, and a story of human collaboration with a great ancestral Mexican know-how linked to European creativity.
Why Mexico?
In 2011, I went to Mexico to visit a friend who had just opened a resort in Porto Escondido and I rediscovered Mexico City on the way. I had a slap. Seen from France, Mexico was sombrero, tequila and drugs. A few years before, I had worked on the curation of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at The Gianadda Foundation in Switzerland, and at the time, it was of no interest to anyone. From 2011, I went back to Mexico every year and I said to myself, I want to live there - but I don't want to leave Paris for all that. If I were a banker, I would go and work in a bank in Mexico, what can I do? Putting people in touch - I worked at Vitra, Camper and Maison & Objet -: What if I put the craftsmanship that I love with designers that I love? The idea for Maison Marcoux Mexico was born ...
Vase n°7. 2018
Matière: Black earth
32,5 x 22,2 cm
Made in: Santa Maria Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico
Vase n°5. 2018
Matière: Black earth
34,0 x 23,5 cm
Made in: Santa Maria Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico
What is the particularity of Mexican design?
Let's say that its inhabitants still have the complex whereby one thinks that anything that is done elsewhere is better than in Mexico! From an object point of view, I see everywhere in Mexico this mini coat rack that looks like a tree, I only see it there.
Your next project?
A second collection, still in Mexican black soil, this time with a Mexican designer, to start from the same material and bring it a different look. This material is incredible.
http://maisonmarcoux.com.mx/