Perched high in the Meseta Purépecha of Michoacán, San Bartolomé Cocucho is home to one of Mexico’s oldest Indigenous pottery traditions. The town’s very name—derived from the Purépecha word Kukúch, meaning pot or jar—reveals its bond with clay. Here, pottery is both livelihood and lineage, a practice rooted in community and carried forward by generations who shape the same red earth as their ancestors.

Every vessel begins where the land and the maker meet—with clay gathered by hand and mixed with volcanic sand to lend strength and texture.

In San Bartolomé Cocucho, art and ancestry are inseparable. Generations work side by side, sharing stories as they mold clay and stoke the fires. While honoring pre-Hispanic techniques, the artisans continue to evolve their designs—introducing new forms while safeguarding the integrity of their past.

What began as a humble necessity has become a symbol of identity, resilience, and collective memory. Through their hands, Cocucho’s makers preserve not only a craft, but the living pulse of a community bound by earth, family, and fire.

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