Part of the services offered by Happy-Hammock is ‘Gifts 4 Women’ .. preferrably .. ‘bought by men’! As part of this I have always wanted to include Silk (probably from SE Asia) and Silver. One of the main reasonas for coming to Mexico was that I had heard that it it was great for Silver, and I was curious.

I visted a small town c. 2hours from Mexico City called, Taxaco (pronounced Tasco).  This place is famous for Silver .. the streets are lined with shops selling silver, retail and wholesale. In fact, if you weren’t here to buy Silver there really is only enough to keep you busy for a few days .. this town survives off Silver.

I feel at this point I should mention the ‘ethical sourcing’ point. Buying Silver has probably been the most difficult area for me to guarentee that I have follwed this principal.

This has been difficult in 2 areas:

1) Silver mining. I have heard from someone that they saw a TV programme in America damning the mining of Silver in Mexico because in some instances Children may be used. I don’t know this for a fact and I dont support it if it is true, however I suspect that there may be similar issues wherever you buy Silver from .. for example Thailand or India. AGAIN I don’t know this for a fact .. and I certainly haven’t done enough research on it (I will start to now though) .. but this is a difficult subject because what i do know is that if wholesale buyers like myself (and tourists) stop buying from Taxcao altogether thousands of people will be out of a job, whole towns and communities would be severly affected.  

I did find one ethical charity supported organisation that made jewlerry out of Pewter. Unfortunatley I didn’t like what they were producing and therefore, wasn’t happy purchasing there.  

2) Supporting Artisans dirrectly. The shops in Taxaco tend to sell their own style of workmanship (sometimes you see one particular item in a few shops though) and I basically chose the items that i liked the most and thought that you would like. It was very difficult to get back to the craftsman themselves, the shop owners were not happy about showing these people or simply didn’t know them because they in turn bought from another intermediary.   

At the weekend there is a big Silver wholesale market where you can buy in volume. It was interesting to visit but i still didn’t feel any closer to the artisans. 

 wholesale market seller and stalls

  bangles

My aim for the next time I source Silver in Mexico is to try and visit some of the smaller silver towns in the north and to see if i can find a way of getting closer to the craftsmen themselves, to at least talk to them about their lives and see how they work.

The 2 points above are just my thoughts, you can agree or disagree, be inflamed or indifferent .. as long as I have told you what the situation is, it is up to you as a buyer to decide how it affects your descisions.

And now for the products … I have tried to chose some simple items and mainly stuck to braclets and earings … in particular I was liking the battered silver look.

      Battered Silver

�      glam earrings

I also invested in lots of basic hoops and bangles, and some very simple pendants (little hearts and stars) to tell people you love them or that they are simply special.

Silver isn’t cheap, even at wholesale prices, but the quality of workmanship in Taxaco is excellent and Mexican Silver comes with a  stamp to prove it’s authenticity .. which is handy for you and me.

Hobo out x