Barro negro, the black clay of Oaxaca

In San Bartolo Coyotepec, a village south of Oaxaca City, the clay comes out of the ground grey and comes out of the kiln black. The colour is not paint and not glaze: it is the clay itself, smoke fired at a low temperature in a closed kiln.

The shine that made barro negro famous is even older technology: before firing, the half dry piece is burnished by hand with a quartz stone until the surface compacts into a mirror. A large olla can take days of polishing. Every workshop's burnish reads slightly differently, the way handwriting does.

Because the pieces are fired low, barro negro is decorative rather than ovenproof, and it travels well when packed right. The workshops on 1VIM pack for export and the landed price to your door, duties included, is on the listing before you pay.