Connect with Zapotec culture by molding Oaxaca's red clay.

Experience a unique connection with the earth and the Zapotec culture in the Taller de Barro Rojo, led by an experienced potter, a disciple of master ceramists from San Marcos Tlapazola, Oaxaca.

You will learn ancestral techniques without a wheel or industrial kiln, shaping natural clay with your hands and burnishing each piece with quartz stone, as has been done for generations. This workshop is not just a class: it is a living tribute to wisdom, to sustainability and to indigenous identity.

Ideal for those seeking to create with purpose, return to the essentials, reconnect with ancestral roots and value traditional art as an act of resistance and beauty. All materials are sourced directly from women of the community of San Marcos Tlapazola.

This workshop takes place over 8 hours spread across two consecutive days (weekend). The ceramic pieces that were shaped during the workshop are delivered one week after drying and firing so they are finished.

The workshop can be conducted in Spanish and English.

Participants have the option to take part on the day assigned for the firing of the pieces at no additional cost and collect their work there.

It is possible to book at any time of the year a private workshop (minimum 4 and maximum 8 people) taught by qualified apprentices of the master potters of Oaxaca in which adults and children of all ages can participate, supervised by their parents.

Learn about the elements that make up the red clay prepared by the artisans for your workshop:

• Sand: artisans go to the mine at their home town. There, the earth is broken with a crowbar and sifted with a small can. Afterwards, it is put into sacks and carried on the head or in a shawl (approximately 10 kilos per person).
• Clay: it is taken from the fields after the harvest. Permission is asked from the landowner to scrape the earth. A hole is opened in the ground with the crowbar and, with a trained eye, the pieces of clay that are taken out are gathered.
• Red slip: master ceramists climb a hill 20 minutes by foot. Once at the top, you must be able to distinguish the vein and chip with the crowbar to extract the red "stones". The material is put into sacks and carried in a shawl, impossible to bring a car close because it is mountainous. Up to 10 kilos can be loaded in each shawl tied to the back.