Section 2| Rethinking Tradition

Section 2 | Rethinking Tradition

In the first two decades of this century, many women designers have decided to look back at tradition. Some out of need or convenience, others for costs, inertia, conviction, or ideology continuously invoke Mexico’s cultural holdings, which in turn refer to ancestral forms and images from popular culture and urban surroundings. Their images and objects are laden with humor and everyday references that attempt to make the user’s life more tolerable, if not functionally, indeed symbolically. They choose to work with local workshops and use traditional materials that reflect identity and culture. These processes began without an awareness, but women designers have managed to redirect them to compete in the world, produce a contemporary identity associated with the land, while they are concerned with today’s social, environmental, and economic issues and their possible solutions.