MEET THE MAKER: RUFINA
When people tell me they want to visit Oaxaca, I always stop them mid-sentence and just say….”GO.” My trips to the Mexican State, and Capital City, have been for various readsons….a much needed break, inspo, and on the last few visits sourcing for M.O.N. The vintage homegoods, the antiques and the inspo are tucked away on rural roads in small pueblas, and behind years of layered crafts-people–artwork springs from dust hot small unexpected corners. My time in Oaxaca has led to finding old things that inspire me in the now, and new makers who draw inspo from the past.
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It was on one of those trips, mid-conversation with a taxi driver who moonlights as something closer to a cultural guide — that I first heard the name Rufina Ruíz López. He spoke about her the way people in Oaxaca speak about the things they are genuinely proud of: with warmth, with specificity, and without any fanfare.He spoke about her with respect and awe. He referred to her as Maestro and spoke about her studio like one of his favorite hidden taco stands or off the beaten path locals only food spots. He arranged an introduction, and just like that, one of M.O.N.'s most meaningful maker relationships were born.
Rufina is a master ceramicist from Santa María Atzompa, a small community outside the city of Oaxaca that has long been synonymous with the craft of pottery. With over 45 years of practice behind her, she works in the ancestral techniques of her community, hand-building, open-fire kiln firing, natural pigments, while simultaneously pushing the form into new and unexpected territory. Her work has been shown at the Smithsonian FolkLife Festival in Washington D.C., the Arizona Botanical Garden, and the Obakki Foundation in Vancouver. She has collaborated with architects, visual artists, and designers across Belgium, the United States, and Canada. With this huge and impressive global CV I admit, I expected something different when I went to her studio. This small woman, in an apron, covered in clay, dust, and sweat took me by my hand and led me into her workshop. She gave me a brief explanation and then encouraged me to shop.
What moves me most about her work is its honesty. Each piece carries the marks of the hands that made it, the soil it came from, the fire that transformed it. Rufina's ceramics simply are handmade, and the difference is immediately felt. Meeting her in person, meeting her staff, and being welcomed by her made the experience of offering her goods at M.O.N. feel very full circle.
Rufina's ceramics are now available at M.O.N. Each piece is sourced directly from her workshop in Santa María Atzompa, Oaxaca–some are hyper practical, some are art driven, and some are more rough and fantastical—but all of them are ready for a place in your home to help elevate the table, the shelf or the corner of your favorite room.