PINA MICHOACANA, MEXICO
The pineapple has always been a symbol of something. When Christopher Columbus encountered it on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493 — naming it piña de Indias for its resemblance to a pinecone — Europe had never seen anything like it. Within decades it had become an obsession: kings and aristocrats paid what would today be thousands for a single fruit to display at their tables. The pineapple was the ultimate symbol of wealth, hospitality and worldliness. It was crowned, quite literally, the King of Fruit.
That history is given shape in some remarkable contemporary ceramics from the Michoacán region of Mexico. Near Tangancícuaro, a remote village in the state of Michoacán, skilled craftsmen extract clay from the ground by hand, transport it to the village on the backs of donkeys, and begin the long, arduous process of creating these ornamental glazed pineapple urns. Two types of clay are mixed to form a sturdy base. The pineapple shape is formed in a mould, then the decorative elements — the crown, the shell — are shaped and fixed entirely by hand using the traditional pastillaje pinching technique. The piece is then left to dry for several days, dependent entirely on the weather.
What follows is equally painstaking. A layer of pasta blanca is applied as a base for the coloured glazes, then the pineapple is fired for five hours, cooled, bathed in lead oxide or copper oxide glaze for its rich colour, finished with silica for its signature glossy shine, and fired again for a further five hours. From start to finish, each piece can take up to six weeks to complete.
The result is an intricately detailed, brilliantly glazed ceramic that sits in a long tradition of Mexican craft and carries the full weight of the pineapple's remarkable history.
A TVD favourite since the beginning — and, we'd argue, more coveted than ever.
We have a wide range of sizes and colourways available in stock. We are also able to help with custom orders if you're after a specific colour, a grander scale or a different finish — we work directly with the makers. Get in touch to find out more.
Susana Ordovás, author of Inside Yucatán, wrote a fabulous piece on the history of these extraordinary ceramics. Ask us for the link.