“The question that motivates me is: What can we learn from the indigenous people´s understanding and connection to nature, and use it as a source of answers to the most pressing problems of our civilization?” - Emilio
Clay vs Plastic
The pottery-making tradition in Mexico is a millennial way of being in the world. Innovando la Tradición has worked alongside traditional potters for only twenty years.
Our goal is to make sure they have the conditions to continue another four thousand years by strengthening capacities in indigenous potters to challenge the future by creating bridges to the modern economy, developing skills, discovering new narratives of indigenous identity, and making an archive of their knowledge.
The question we want to answer is: How can indigenous knowledge become a source of answers to the most pressing problems of our civilization?
La Red Valle de Huajes/ Innovando la Tradición
I’ve been collaborating with Innovando la Tradición and Red Huajes Valley since 2022.
Innovando la Tradición
Their mission is structured in what we call in Mexico, milpa. The milpa refers to an ancient Mesoamerican intercropping method of planting corn, squash, and beans together, as well as a variety of chiles and quelites, or young, edible greens. The way these species interact creates a balanced ecosystem that utilizes available resources—water, light, and soil—and produces a highly nutritious diet.
The Milpa of Innovando la Tradición is made up of Four Movements, four guiding principles, four interconnected and complementary areas, not unlike the Mesoamerican milpas, that offer a comprehensive solution to the decline of traditional pottery and of the know-how of the communities.
Each Movement contains ideas like seeds that grow into pilot projects, then long-term projects.