The municipality of Zacoalco de Torres, 68 kilometers from the Guadalajara Metropolitan Zone, is famous for the manufacture of equipales, a type of leather chair that has been used since pre-Hispanic times, made of cow or pigskin, wooden slats and rods tied with leather.

Ramón Hernández Moreno, artisan from Zacoalco de Torres, explained that equipal means 'a seat of God', and at that time they began to find the purple rose, Palo Dulce, guásima, tasiste, carrizo with which the equipal is produced, which at that time was very traditional and was made with normal leather, currently the process and the use of materials has been modernized".

In Zacoalco de Torres, there are approximately 300 families that are dedicated to the manufacture of this object which is made as a whole, because the process can take up to a month of manual labor.

"First the wood is cut... from there they are brought and the artisans arrive and begin to work or musquetear as they say, they are the ones who begin to musquetear and make the equipal. In several houses here in Zacoalco, in many houses equipales are made. For example, some people are dedicated to making the seat and the upper part, others are dedicated to musquetear the teenagers in correcting the equipales, others to filetear the equipales and so on," says the artisan.

From November to May, more or less, the artisans stop the production of chairs for about three months to avoid the inconveniences of humidity and storms that make it difficult to acquire good wood or to make a quality product.

The purchase of a piece of equipal furniture ranges from 700 pesos to 70 thousand pesos.

Galería Equipales

Av Rubén Ramírez Flores #998

San Miguel,

45750 Zacoalco de Torres, Jalisco

331 091 9160, 326-423-1010, cell 333-137-1543