Americas Quarterly - Winter 2011

Nevertheless, since the be-
ginning of the effort to dissemi-
nate both lead-free glaze and the
knowledge necessary to use it, a
number of small private opera-
tions have successfully exported
lead-free Mexican ceramics to
the United States. This supports
the belief among many of the
producers that what is missing
is not international demand for
their products, but the channels
for that demand to be communi-
cated to suppliers. Raúl Fuentes,
leader of the Ceramicists Union
in Capula, puts it this way: “We
know the market exists; what
we don’t know is how to get our
products into it.”
The trying decisions that local
ceramicists face in order to sus-
tain and expand their business
make clear that changing produc-
tion methods is not an organic
process. Rather, it falls upon the
Mexican state and federal agen-
cies and NGOs to bridge the gaps
faced by producers of ceramic tableware to make inte-
gration into the international market possible.

Barro sin Plomo has demonstrated that sufficient visible demand does in fact provide an impetus for upgrading to lead-free production. Although Barro sin Plomo’s goals include the improvement of health and working conditions, the NGO realized early on that upgrading would have to be driven by the probability of financial gains for producers. Barro sin Plomo and its for-profit, export marketing arm, Echery Pottery group—both founded and directed by Víctor Aguila Sánchez, a master trainer in lead-free techniques—were able to draw upon and generate commercial contacts in the U.S. to distribute the lead-free pieces from Michoacán potters. Access to export markets allowed them to pay producers a higher premium than prices earned in the domestic market.

Barro sin Plomo has helped over 1,000 potters con-
vert to lead-free products that meet FDA standards;
export sales from several Mexican states, including Mi-
choacán, surpassed $200,000 in 2006 alone. “Barro sin
Plomo made orders every month—and large ones—and
bought higher-priced pieces
because they were exporting.
This is why we used the lead-
free glaze,” recalls Fernando
Arroyo of 2006, when lead-free
production became profitable
for his family workshop.