Mexican Country Style
- Book Review,
by Karen Witynski, Joe P. Carr
Book Description
$19.95 gatefold paper * 1-58685-255-8 * April 8 1/2 x 10 in, 160 pp, 140 Color Photographs, 30 Black & White Photographs, Rights: W, Design Now in paperback, Mexican Country Style is the classic that helped launch the popular Mexican design revival. Authors Karen Witynski and Joe P. Carr navigated coastal villages and old colonial mining towns by bus and burro, bumping down narrow cobblestone streets in search of simple and utilitarian elements like country tables, workbenches, storage trunks, corral gates, and heavy old doors. Intrigued by the diversity they encountered, the authors documented the wide variety in style, design, and shape of each object they encountered. Weathered coffee mortars, milking stools shaped like animals, and sculptured sugar molds reflect a rich local history as well as the ingenuity of the hands that crafted them. Mexican Country Style is the result of those fascinating journeys and boundless discoveries, a celebration of a rugged, romantic beauty and magical antiquity that continues to make its way into the contemporary interiors, gardens, and commercial settings across the country. Award-winning authors Karen Witynski and Joe P. Carr have been at the forefront of the Mexican design movement for over twenty-five years as interior designers and antiques dealers. Their Mexican design book series includes six titles: Mexican Country Style, The New Hacienda, Casa Adobe, Adobe Details, Casa Yucatán, and Mexican Details. Based in Austin, Texas, Carr and Witynski are the owners of Texture Antiques, an interior design firm and gallery specializing in hacienda style, Mexican colonial furniture, and architectural elements. Their design work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and dozens of other magazines and newspapers. Individually, Witynski photographs homes and gardens for national publications and Carr is a hacienda consultant and furniture designer.
From the Inside Flap
Authors Karen Witynski and Joe P. Carr have spent years winding their way by bus and burro through coastal villages and old colonial mining towns, bumping alongside sugarcane fields and down narrow cobblestoned streets in search of simple, robust country tables, workbenches, storage trunks, corral gates, and old, heavy doors. They were intrigued by the diversity they encountered--the variety in style, design, and shape of utilitarian vessels and carved wooden objects. From milking stools shaped like animals to grain-measure boxes and sculptural sugar molds, the pieces were like mirrors reflecting a rich local history as well as the ingenuity of the hands that made them. From mesquite-carved beams and window lintels to jail doors and coffee mortars, Carr and Witynksi found new homes in the United States for their salvaged finds. Although artists and collectors have been enjoying and living with Mexican antiques and accents for decades, the last ten years have seen a meteoric rise in their popularity in every corner of the country. Carr and Witynski soon found that their customers were as intrigued as they were with these Mexican objects and shared their curiosity to know more about their origins. The result is Mexican Country Style, a showcase of the rich heritage of Mexican antiques.
From the Back Cover
For decades, Mexico's countryside has startled visitors senses with the rich flavor of its tradition-bound world. Charmed by the character and ingenuity of the Mexican people, lovers of country style are irresistibly drawn to the rugged romantic beauty of the native architecture and the soulful antiquity of their handcrafted elements. The markings and textures that decades of time and wear have left on the indigenous furnishings and objects are character marks, alive with history, color, and personality. Mexican Country Style is a celebration of this style's simple splendor, which is sweeping the country and making its way into the homes or offices of Jane Fonda and Ted Turner, Ralph Lauren, Val Kilmer, and Gene Hackman. Nelson A. Rockefeller said of Mexico that "Its people have a love and understanding of the importance of the ordinary to the essential vitality of life. Instinctual, the mundane things made to carry out everyday acts, are all valuable and worthy of the greatest creative expression, (which is evident) in their lasting value and in the skill of their creators, their sense of sacredness of the routines of their daily lives."
About the Author
Karen Witynski and Joe P. Carr's Mexican design book series includes six titles: Mexican Country Style, The New Hacienda, Casa Adobe, Adobe Details, Casa Yucatan, and Mexican Details. Based in Austin, Texas, Carr and Witynski are the owners of Texture Antiques, and interior design firm and gallery specializing in hacienda style, Mexican colonial furniture, and architectural elements. Their design work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and dozens of other magazines and newspapers. Individually, Witynski photographs homes and gardens for national publications and Carr is a hacienda consultant and furniture designer.
Excerpted from Mexican Country Style by Karen Witynski, Joe P. Carr. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction For decades, Mexico's countryside has startled our senses with the rich flavors of its traditio-bound world. As antique dealers and designers, we first became acquainted with Mexican furniture and architectural elements in the early 1970s as we traveled throughout the states of Zacatecas, San Lusi Potosi, and Jalisco, collecting textiles, masks, and folk art for our then New Mexico gallery. Charmed by the character and ingenuity of the Mexican people, we were drawn to the rugged, romantic beauty of their architecture and the soulful antiquity of their handcrafted elements. As we became more and more familiar with the everyday routines of Mexican life, we found ourselves curious about the markings and textures that decades of time and wear had left on the indigenous furnishings and objects we had discovered--character marks that were alive with history, color, and personality. Very simply, they fired our imaginations. The stories behind these pieces were the inspiration for this book. Our twenty-five-plus years of buying, collecting, restoring, and selling Mexican antiques ahve been a constant learning experience, rewarding us with surprises at every turn, and bringing us closer to the vitality of the people of Mexico and their colorful heritage.
Buy from Amazon
Compare Prices
|
|
Home
