An afternoon with master tinsmith 'Chilo'

Spending time with 'Chilo' (Cecilio) is always an adventure for me while in San Miguel. Chilo does not speak very much English and I speak 'un poco' of Espanol (I end up using added hand gestures and facial expressions to get my point across). Jose who works in Chilo's tallere speaks some English and attempts to be a translator but it doesn't always translate exactly. Regardless, I always am amazed at his talleres' craftmanship and creativity. Sergio took me to the tienda's upstairs tallere where Jose and some of the other artisans were hand-painting the beautiful tin we do so well with at our store. It is always fasciniating to see how much additional work is put into the finished product. Usually several layers of paint are used to achieve their gorgoeus aged looks in their 'El Nido' mirrors and to see them apply by hand gold and silver leaf is incredible. I brought back several new hearts and crosses from the tallere for our customers and ordered more of the beautiful 'El Nido' mirrors that consistently charm us. We hope when we take our first 'Aesthetyx Experience' tour to San Miguel (slated for August 2008) to spend a day in both of Chilo's talleres so our customers can see and appreciate all of the hand-crafted work that goes into every one of a kind piece.