A BUSINESS ON THE COAST WITH A STRONG COMMITMENT TO MEXICAN TRADITION AND SOCIAL WELLNESS
INTERVIEW WITH CO’TANTIC CO-FOUNDER LOURDES JUANIS
How did Co’tantic come about? Co’tantic, meaning “heart” in the Mayan language, emerged as a project one spring in San Miguel de Allende, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, while observing – on a terrace – so many artists who are artists without knowing it. We were born with an international vocation, focused on a taste for design with soul that preserves its original aspects. Our aim is to connect craftspeople with current designs incorporating curat ed materials, and carefully listening to a client’s tastes and priorities. In our own furniture and textile designs, as well as in our interior design projects, we try to look for these principles, which become the mirror in which we reflect ourselves.
Tell us more about your concept store and services… We opened our store just before the COVID-19 pandemic, with a basic line of furniture, lighting and textile products, all of them artisanally hand-made in Mexico. We feel lucky because, from the outset, we have learned so much listening to both the public and professionals who offer us the inspiration to propose our own designs and ideas for products and services. Therefore, our concept store combines permanent products with our own designs born from our diverse contacts, as well as offering interior design services to clients subject to their tastes and ideas – with latest trends sup ported by the best professionals in the industry.
What inspires you and from where do you buy your products? We believe that all of us are made up of stories, and ours is connected to our Acapulco chair. It was there, on the paradisiacal beaches of Acapulco (Mexico) in the 1950s, where three friends decided to create the first Acapulco
chair on a non-profit basis to financially help a school for disabled children. That chair, initially used by fishermen in the area when they scaled their fish, gained international traction and fame when Hollywood stars spent their holidays in Acapulco, and especially the great Elizabeth Taylor, who helped make it a design icon. Our artisans continue to produce our “Acapulcos” – and, indeed, all our products – there in Mexico, where artisanal tradition, natural materials, sus tainability and a social commitment inspire the Co’tantic vision.
What is it you are most proud of with Co’tantic? We believe that Co´tantic reflects our own wellness concept. There is an indigenous community of women in San Blas (Nayarit), suffering economic hardship and lack of opportunities, who prepare raw materials for our prod ucts and artisans, the best palm in the world, and traditional families in Mex ico City state who obtain round leather cord for our chairs, as well as our hand-made braided camel cotton in Guadalajara.
In Conclusion… If you Google “Acapulco chair” on your browser, you will discover a replica Acapulco chair that is cheaper than ours, but always ask yourself what kind of social wellness its production entails.
Co´tantic Sierra Bermeja 56, Pueblo Nuevo Guadiaro, San Roque Tel. (+34) 645 872 172 info@cotantic.com www.cotantic.com
