Mesas De Talavera

These tables are assembled and finished in New Mexico, but their major components came from Old Mexico. The iron frames are made in Ciudad Juarez, while the hand-painted-painted Talavera tiles originate a thousand miles further south in historic Dolores Hidalgo. ("Talavera" is a city in central Spain famous for ceramics; there is no town by that name in Mexico.) Talavera tile comes in more than 100 traditional patterns and represents a longer journey in time than in distance. Some patterns came to Mexico from Spain, others have even earlier origins in North Africa. If you travel to southern Spain or Morocco, you may be surprised to find a favorite pattern in the tiles of an ancient wall.

The network of surface cracks ("crazing") that gives Talavera its beautiful antique appearance is not a flaw, but simply a characteristic of this type of tile. Talavera is a handmade product, so variations in color and shape are to be expected. These tiles are more akin to painted pottery and similar forms of ceramic folk art than to the perfectly uniform, machine-made tile you may be more familiar with.

Talavera was developed in warm climates and is NOT frost/freeze proof. Talavera is especially vulnerable to freeze damage if it is wet. But outdoor use will not be a problem if you remember to bring your table indoors or cover it in winter.

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