[Carla Fernández] We met a long time ago in college.
Yes.
[Pedro Reyes] Yeah, she had some pants that were made of
purple fake fur that I couldn't help noticing.
[BOTH LAUGH]
We knew each other like ten years or so before we became a couple.
[Fernández] He was making a show with Hans Ulrich [Obrist]
at Casa Barragán
and he invited me to a collaboration with him.
[Reyes] But it was only an excuse so I could hang out with her on a regular basis.
But then later we discovered that we were not good at collaborating
but doing other stuff instead.
[BOTH LAUGH]
[Fernández] Collaborating, making kids.
[LAUGHS]
[Reyes] Carla is more into textiles.
I'm more into stone-making or welding or weaving.
[Fernández] When Pedro works with communities he works more with students
or with young people that have had a chance to study or go to college.
I go to the fields.
I work with women that don’t speak Spanish.
We communicate through drawings and through textiles.
[Reyes] What she does is unlike any other designer in the world.
Her operations may be small compared to big brands,
but her style is very unique and immediately you can identify this
and it's because of the geometry.
[Fernández] When I started making clothing, I had two choices.
One was to copy the things that the communities make,
because that was for sure going to be my inspiration,
or work together with the communities.
We use squares and rectangles because that is like the DNA of Mexican patterning.
I love geometry.
[Reyes] Yeah we both love geometry.
We both have a very strong interest in Mexican heritage in terms of craft
because we both work with artisans.
[Fernández] We have this beautiful house that we made with artisans.
For me the most important thing is that this house is made by hand.
[Reyes] In Mexico, we use concrete all the time.
Casting is something that we like a lot.
It’s a different approach to the way that houses are built in the United States
where everything is wood.
We moved into this house like a year ago.
It was a kind of concrete shell, that had very different finishing.
We just keep adding.
It's all cast in concrete.
The whole house is a sculpture.
It’s a very slow process of doing this living space.
[Fernández] The people come, it’s like "Oh I love your '50s floor"
and it took us a year and a half.
They think that the floor was here.
[Reyes] This is volcanic stone.
That is what the molcajetes are made of.
The materials are not very luxurious but everything was handmade.
[Fernández] It makes it, in a way, personal--
that you know who is making your house.
You know who you’re taking care of or who’s taking care of you.
Mexico has all these Starbucks,
and you go through the world
and you see these places that the coffee, it tastes the same
or the logo is the same.
It’s necessary, but we also have to
have our own little workshops, ateliers, craftsmanship.
I want my kids to live in a place that it has flavor.
The younger generations would like to be doctors,
but they also should be very proud of being artisans.
I wish everyone would have choices.
[CLAPPING]