Tzinacan Footed Black Ceramic Bowl

Tzinacan means bat in Nahuatl, an indigenous Mexican language. Bats were of great importance in pre-hispanic Mexico mythology, symbolising different aspects in each culture, from darkness and earth to corn and fertility. Handmade in Oaxaca, this unique black footed bowl is made using a local traditional artisanal technique called barro negro. First the clay is soaked for 20 days to purify. Once shaped, it is smoked to achieve its black colour and burnished, rather than glazed, by polishing the surface with a quartz crystal. To finish, the small footed bowls are wood-fired in underground pits or kilns, emerging with their signature dark colour and warm glossy glow. Use to keep keys and trinkets, or as a thoughtful gift to a friend.

Use to keep keys and trinkets, or as a thoughtful gift to a friend.

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.