Filming in Taxco

In the 1930s, the city of Taxco became a center for jewelry production in Mexico through the entrepreneurship of American architect and designer William Spratling. Today, a new generation of jewelry designers are carrying on the art of silversmithing in modern ways.

The first workshop the Craft in America film crew visited was Carmen Tapia’s, a designer who creates her work using the lost-wax process with artisan Jorge Mundo. Carmen learned to work in silver from her father, Ezequiel, a respected sculptor in silver and stone.

Cristina Romo Castillo started working in silver at the age of five, growing up in the workshop started by her grandfather and learning from her mother. Cristina works in silver as well as porcelain, alabaster, and semi-precious stones. Her husband, Eduardo Herrera Harfuch, is an architect and jewelry designer, whose work is quite intricate. Inspired by nature, the artisans in Cristina and Eduardo’s workshops make their designs come to life.

The third workshop we visited was Jorge Ortiz Munoz’s, who worked in William Spratling’s workshop. His son, Miguel Angel Ortiz Miranda followed in his father’s footsteps and is also a designer and silversmith today.