Oaxacan Clay Side Plate

The unusual firing technique used to make these terracotta plates result in a spectrum of colours that range from beige to peach and soft grey. Handmade in Oaxaca, Mexico, the local clay is soaked for 20 days to remove impurities before being soaked and burnished with a quartz crystal. The side plates are then wood fired underground and oxidised, leaving the pieces with their varied colours.

The black clay side plates are made using local traditional artisanal technique called barro negro. After soaking clay is filtered for 20 days to filter impurities, the clay is smoked to create the black colour and burnished by polishing the surface with a quartz crystal. This gives the dessert plate its warm glossy finish. To finish, the pieces are wood-fired in underground pits or kilns.

Complement the set with the designer’s contrasting dessert or dinner plates in black or terracotta.

This set is from the designer’s The Oaxacan Loving Collection where the same natural material (a clay local to Oaxaca) yet finished in two different ways to create contrasting colours – one black and the other pale terracotta. Two styles as different as night from day.