Talavera pottery has evolved from a distinctively Mexican ceramic craft to become a vibrant and innovative modern art form. But its origins reach far back in time and far away – to 10th-century Iraq. The story of the journey taken by this craft is also the story of great empires and global trading routes. The unique tin-glaze pottery techniques of Talavera, which were almost driven into extinction several times, today form a fine thread that links three continents. Dr Farzaneh Pirouz has spent the last decade recovering this lost history of a great craft, and ponders the future of a ceramic art now enjoying a boom in popularity.
Dr. Farzaneh Pirouz studied at the University of Oxford, where she conducted doctoral research into the history and geography of tin-glaze ceramics. As a Barakat Fellow at the University, she developed and curated exhibitions – in Mexico City, Puebla and Dallas, Texas – about the tin glaze pottery from the Middle East to Spain and Mexico. She also wrote an illustrated book entitled Clay Between Two Seas: From Baghdad to the Talavera of Puebla, published in 2017 by Planeta Lunwerg. Dr Pirouz lives in Mexico City and Oxford.
