Fernando Jimon Melchor lives and works in Tonalá, Jalisco, famous for its ceramics. He works in barro bandera (colors of the Mexican flag) and barro bruñido (burnished). He learned his craft by family inheritance as his family have been ceramicists for more than six generations.

Fernando decided long ago to follow the family’s tradition of working with barro (clay). His work has allowed him to travel and meet people from all over the world. Six people work together in his taller
(workshop) each producing unique pieces — when there is a need, they work together as a team.

Some of Fernando’s pieces are made in molds and others totally
by hand. When they are dry, they are smoothed with stones and covered with pigment to seal the pores and to provide a background color. They are then decorated with "palmeado". For this step, paints are made by mixing the clays with earth pigments. For the white on his vessels, Fernando uses an earth pigment called hue, which over time gives a grayish tone. The pieces are given a final polish with tallow and then fired in an open kiln.

For Fernando’s beautiful work, he was awarded the Angel Carranza Award in a national concurso (judged show) and he has garnered many first place awards on both the state and national levels.

Martha #85
Col. Centro
Tonalá, Jalisco
33 1187 8319 casa; 33 1008 4076 WhatsApp
fdo.jimon@gmail.com
@fernandojimonmelchor Instagram