An example of the Aztec stone mosaic technique that inspired Chato Castillo to create his 'Mosaico Azteca' mosaic stone inlay technique for jewelry - the resulting jewelry was very popular, and copied by hundreds of other Mexican metalsmiths!
#chatocastillo #mosaicoazteca #loscastillotaxco #taxco
Items like the mask below were no doubt at least part of the inspiration for the 'mosaico azteca' mosaic stone inlay invented by Chato Castillo in the 1940s.
Los Castillo 'mosaico aztec' bird brooch circa 1950.
#loscastillotaxco #chatocastillodesign #mosaicoazteca #mosaicstoneinlay #brooch #art
Here's a #metalescasados (married metals) and #mosaicoazteca stone inlay Fisherman Casting his Nets #mexicanmodernist #brooch by #chatocastillodesign for #loscastillotaxco
#handmade #copper #brass #silver #azurmalachite #mexicansilver #taxco #mexicanjewelry #modernism #design #wearableart #art #pin
A colorful Los Castillo sterling silver and 'mosaico azteca' stone inlay modernist ring designed by Chato Castillo c. 1950.
#loscastillotaxco #chatocastillodesign #taxco #mexicansilver #mexicanmodernism #midcenturymexico #silver #mosaicoazteca #stoneinlay #ring #modernistjewelry #wearableart #art
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes! This cigarette box was made by the Los Castillo workshop in Taxco circa 1970s. It is composed of malachite and azurite 'mosaico azteca' stone inlay over silver and copper 'metales casados' metalworking in the lid. The bottom section of the box is Mexican redwood with a silver frame. Marked 'Handwrought' 'Los Castillo' and 'Mexico'. It measures 7-3/8'W X 3-1/2''D X 1-3/8"T and weighs 1lb.8oz. A Chato Castillo design for the family workshop Los Castillo in Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico.
An iconic Los Castillo handmade silver wood and stone inlay 'smoking' box designed by Chato Castillo c.1970s
#handmade #loscastillotaxco #mexicansilver #mosaicoazteca #metalescasados #smoking #box #mcm #midcenturymexico #modernism #mexicanmodernism #hechoenmexico #taxcosilver #chatocastillodesign
A 'metales casados' and 'mosaico azteca' Leaf design brooch by Los Castillo circa 1960.
Measures roughly 1.75" each side.
Marked "Los Castillo Taxco", "Cooperativa SCL", "Hecho en Mexico", and "324".
#loscastillotaxco #chatocastillodesign #metalescasados #hechoenmexico #mosaicoazteca #handmade
This box was made in the last two decades of the long career of Antonio Castillo, one of the four founding brothers of Los Castillo in Taxco. Made circa 1980s, the box was hand fabricated in brass, then silver-plated. The inside has Mexican rosewood lining. The top is decorated with two techniques first invented by Chato Castillo for Los Castillo in the 1940s; 'metales casados' (married metals), and 'mosaico azteca' (Aztec mosaic stone inlay). Metales Casados is the seamless joining of different colored metals using little if any solder to produce a design. In this case, a group of indigenous peoples of Ancient Mexico are shown in what is likely a market scene with a vendor selling fish and flowers to her customers. The scene is set in a mosaic of thin stone pieces inlaid to create a quilt-like effect, but in stone. Both 'metales casados' and 'mosaic azteca' were based on metal and stone working techniques of the ancient peoples of Mexico, but were re-invented by Chato Castillo and first used by Los Castillo in Taxco. Their work was a great success, and soon copied by many others throughout Mexico (and beyond!) to this day! Chato Castillo died in the mid-1970s. His brother, Antonio, revived his techniques, and used them in this superb creation of metal and stone! Truly a luxury item, it was probably first sold by Neiman Marcus in one of their stores in the US. Though Antonio made a number of these boxes over the years, each was a unique work of art, and uniquely Mexican!
Handmade vintage 1980s silver-plated brass box with rosewood interior and 'metales casados' decorated top set in a 'mosaico azteca' surround - designed by Antonio Castillo. NFS
#handmade #silverplate #box #metalescasados #mosaicoazteca #precolumbian #indigenous #loscastillotaxco #hechoenmexico #art
Made sometime in the last two decades of his life, this box was designed by Antonio Castillo, one of the four Castillo brothers who became Los Castillo in Taxco in the late 1930s. There were many other talented designers at Los Castillo including Antonio's wife, Margot Van Voorhies, who later became "Margot de Taxco" and famous in her own right for her incredible enameled jewelry. Salvador Teran, who was cousin to the Castillo brothers, also was an early designer at Los Castillo. Perhaps the greatest technical innovator and designer of all who worked at Los Castillo was Jorge 'Chato' Castillo who invented both the 'mosaico azteca' (mosaic stone inlay) technique, and the 'metales casados' (married metals) technique used in the creation of this box. A very large example at 30.5 cm across, about 12". No doubt originally intended to be a cigar box, but could be used for jewelry, knick-knacks, keys, change, cufflinks, you name it!
A vintage 1980s 90s 'mosaico azteca' (stone inlay) and 'metales casados' (married metals) pre Columbian Mayan figure box - measures 30.5 cm across!
#loscastillotaxco #handmade #mosaicoazteca #metalescasados #precolumbian #mayanfigure #box #mexicansilver #taxco #hechoenmexico #antoniocastillodesign
An incredible vintage 1960s 70s Los Castillo three-color metales casados Snake design lidded box - the metales casados Snake design is surrounded by blue and green resin with inset pieces of azurmalachite - the proportion of colored resin to natural stone is much higher than that found in earlier examples, and so I am guessing that this box is later, the late 60s or even early 1970s, which means that it is likely one of the last designs by Chato Castillo prior to his death in the mid-1970s. The remainder of the box is brass with redwood (possibly cocobolo wood) inner paneling, and with the usual period Los Castillo marks including design number 346. Measures 7.5” wide by 4” deep by 0.75” tall. NFS.
A vintage 1960s 70s 'metales casados' (married metals) and 'mosaico azteca' (Aztec mosaic) stone inlay modernist Snake design box by Chato Castillo for Los Castillo in Taxco, Mexico.
#loscastillotaxco #handmade #chatocastillodesign #mosaicoazteca #metalescasados #hechoenmexico #taxco #box #snake
Three designs by Chato Castillo for Los Castillo in Taxco. After the departure of Margot and Salvador Teran in the early 1950s, Chato took over as de facto head designer at Los Castillo, and his designs are fairly distinctive. You see lines and stick figure representations of the subject, and often asymmetrical. Of course, you also see the many techniques that Chato developed for Los Castillo, and that were appropriated by many other designers in Taxco and really throughout Mexico. In these three examples, he used the ‘mosaico azteca’ or mosaic stone inlay that Chato invented in the 1940s and that Los Castillo continued to use throughout the ensuing decades. All three examples are also from Chato’s astrological designs from the 1950s thru the 1970s. This one is the twins Gemini picked out in raised silver in a field of mosaic azurmalachite stone inlay, and with silver rim and backing. This one is a pin/pendant in sterling silver with the stone inlay as shown. Marked with “Los Castillo Taxco” in a circle, along with “Sterling Made in Mexico”, “Mosaico Azteca” and design number “114”. (Note that the three pieces were made in different decades, using different materials, and different designs, but all are marked with ‘design’ number 114!)
Three designs by Chato Castillo for Los Castillo in Taxco. After the departure of Margot and Salvador Teran in the early 1950s, Chato took over as de facto head designer at Los Castillo, and his designs are fairly distinctive. You see lines and stick figure representations of the subject, and often asymmetrical. Of course, you also see the many techniques that Chato developed for Los Castillo, and that were appropriated by many other designers in Taxco and really throughout Mexico. In these three examples, he used the ‘mosaico azteca’ or mosaic stone inlay that Chato invented in the 1940s and that Los Castillo continued to use throughout the ensuing decades. All three examples are also from Chato’s astrological designs from the 1950s thru the 1970s. This one is the twins Gemini picked out in raised silver in a field of mosaic azurmalachite stone inlay, and with silver rim and backing. This one is a pin/pendant in sterling silver with the stone inlay as shown. Marked with “Los Castillo Taxco” in a circle, along with “Sterling Made in Mexico”, “Mosaico Azteca” and design number “114”. (Note that the three pieces were made in different decades, using different materials, and different designs, but all are marked with ‘design’ number 114!)
Three designs by Chato Castillo for Los Castillo in Taxco. After the departure of Margot and Salvador Teran in the early 1950s, Chato took over as de facto head designer at Los Castillo, and his designs are fairly distinctive. You see lines and stick figure representations of the subject, and often asymmetrical. Of course, you also see the many techniques that Chato developed for Los Castillo, and that were appropriated by many other designers in Taxco and really throughout Mexico. In these three examples, he used the ‘mosaico azteca’ or mosaic stone inlay that Chato invented in the 1940s and that Los Castillo continued to use throughout the ensuing decades. All three examples are also from Chato’s astrological designs from the 1950s thru the 1970s. This one is the twins Gemini picked out in raised silver in a field of mosaic azurmalachite stone inlay, and with silver rim and backing. This one is a pin/pendant in sterling silver with the stone inlay as shown. Marked with “Los Castillo Taxco” in a circle, along with “Sterling Made in Mexico”, “Mosaico Azteca” and design number “114”. (Note that the three pieces were made in different decades, using different materials, and different designs, but all are marked with ‘design’ number 114!)
Three designs by Chato Castillo for Los Castillo in Taxco, Mexico. Different subjects, different use of materials, different decades, yet all three are design number "114"!?!
#chatocastillotaxco #loscastillotaxco #mosaicoazteca #taxco #taxcosilver #mexicansilver #handmade #wearableart #mexico #art
A vintage 1980s Los Castillo tazza tray featuring a 'metales casados' Aztec Chieftain surrounded by a Quetzalcoatl (dragon) on a field of azurmalachite stone inlay - measures 15-3/8” diameter! This design by Antonio Castillo in the latter part of his career circa 1980s 90s, and probably sold thru Neiman Marcus in the US. I've only seen one other of this design, and it was with a more greenish stone inlay leaning more toward the malachite end of azurmalachite, while this example leans more toward the Azur end. I've seen the same Warrior/Dragon design used on tall vases from that period, but that's the only other use of it that I've run across over the years. A masterwork by Antonio Castillo, who founded Los Castillo in 1939 with his brothers and his wife, Margot Van Voorhies Castillo. They were in business until 2001 when Antonio passed away.
A vintage 1980s Los Castillo tazza tray featuring a 'metales casados' Aztec Chieftain surrounded by a Quetzalcoatl (dragon) on a field of azurmalachite stone inlay - measures 15-3/8” diameter!
#loscastillotaxco #metalescasados #mosaicoazteca #mexicansilver #handmade #antoniocastillo #taxco #tazza
