Close Window

Isabel Maza

"Hello. My name is Isabel Maza. When I was little, my mother always enrolled us in hobby classes in the afternoons and I took a course where we learned to cover boxes with leather. My teacher learned from a great Mexican artist who brought the technique – known as marroquinería – from Florence. At the age of 11, I made my first such box and my mother still has it.

"As time went on, I continued my studies in the university, I got married and had a family. But I still enjoyed crafting boxes covered in leather and in my spare time I continued to do so. By the 1990s, it had become more important to me than my job and I decided to dedicate myself to it full time.

"I traveled to Florence to study and perfect my craft and learn its secrets. At the same time, I began to work with Mexican craftspeople to teach them how to make wooden boxes of better quality. I also sought out artisans all over the country who worked in tanning the moroccan leather known as tafilete.

"The term 'marroquinería' comes from Morocco. Tafilet was its most important city where kidskin was tanned so finely that it could be worked by hand. It can be stretched and manipulated without losing the natural beauty of the leather, and this is why we use kidskin.

"The process begins by sanding the box to make it as smooth as possible. We use pinewood, as it has no hard grain. It is kiln-dried and treated, and the boxes are joined with a special glue that I prepare from natural products. We cut the leather and remove the edges, and this is carefully affixed to the box by hand. Sometimes we use cow bone folders. These are cured and sharpened with points of varying degrees of smoothness that help us stretch the dampened leather.

"The raised designs on the lids are created much like repoussé, embossing the motifs from behind and filling the inside space with leather. Some of my work is adorned with a film of 14k gold. Finally, we line the inside of the box and give it the final details.

"My greatest concern is for this ancient technique to continue, as it has lost ground over the years to industrialization. This has led me to the different countries known for the craft to learn the original techniques where the finish is achieved by hand without tools or machinery.

"I like to apply this technique to boxes, as they are useful and versatile, and they last a lifetime."