Talavera de la Reyna

Videos Talavera dela Reyna

Talavera de la Reyna is a ceramic production center started in 1990 by the ceramist Angélica Moreno.

The center aims to rescue and preserve the artisanal process of the Talavera ceramic and bring it into contemporaneity. This technique invented in Baghdad in the IXth century to imitate the Chinese porcelain, traveled to Spain during the Moors invasion, and was eventually exported to Mexico during the Spanish Conquest. The technique disappeared in the Arabic and European worlds, letting the city of Puebla the last recognized production center with the official label «denomination of origin». 

The center is home to all the workshops needed for its production, from the extraction and preparation of the clay, the hand shaping of the pieces, the first 850 °C firings in furnaces, the glazing part creating the particular milky aspect, the hand painting of the designs, and the final firing. The full process can take three to six months. 

In 2010, Talavera de la Reyna opened its museum which became the most important collection of contemporary Talavera in Latin America, gathering works from more than 70 renowned artists.

The residency program intends to mix the traditional technique with designs of established contemporary artists from all disciplines. Selected artists will be hosted in a comfortable flat above the workshops for a two to four weeks stay. Up to five artists each year are selected during which they will be invited to share the studios of the different craftsmen, learning and getting help to realize their pieces. In exchange for their stay, artists will be creating one original work in two exemplars so that they can keep one and leave the other to the museum collection.