A tale of two talleres

One of our most recent artisan visits was to two talleres (workshops) in Villa El Salvador: a mother and daughter, each with her own taller, living side by side.

Zoila, walking me to Ruth's workshop, on the left. Zoila's is the door on the right.

Zoila learned how to form and fire ceramic figurines out of necessity when her husband abandoned her with no means of supporting their three children, ages 12, 6, and 2. She didn’t have any skills for a trade and sold little treats on the beach to get by. One of her friends did ceramics and Zoila thought, if she needed to learn something to make a living, why not learn ceramics? But her friend was reluctant to teach her, so Zoila hung around and attempted to learn by quietly watching her friend. Then she went home and tried to replicate her work. It took her a full year of trial and error before she produced a piece she was satisfied with.


Her kids grew up in the workshop and each had their responsibilities. Ruth, the oldest, used her creative flair and vast imagination to design the pieces. Oscar, the middle child, painted the detail work. Clara, the youngest, helped Zoila form the clay and paint the background colors. And so they survived.

Zoila, in her one-room workshop

She has created many molds for her ceramic pieces over the years.

They moved around the southern districts of Lima frequently but finally secured their own land about 15 years ago, a small plot in Villa El Salvador. It’s not far from the beach; the ocean is on the other side of a huge sand dune and across the Panamerican Highway. Now Villa El Salvador is a large district but it started as a land invasion in 1971.

This giant, empty sand lot is the soccer field.

As her children got older, they continued helping Zoila in the business but also began following their own pursuits. Ruth, now 36, opened her own ceramics workshop seven years ago, and loves any kind of artistic expression, from painting to designing carpets of flower petals for the local Good Friday processions. 

Ruth showed us a picture of her grandfather, which was the model for the as-yet unfinished painting on the left.

Clara, now 26, works in a factory to make ends meet, in addition to helping Zoila as needed. Oscar completed a degree in commercial exportation and was the logistics side of his mom's and sister's businesses.


Three years ago, Oscar was helping Zoila finish an order when he decided to go hang out on the beach for the afternoon. “I’ll paint the eyes when I get back,” he told Zoila. Hours passed and Oscar didn’t return.


Oscar had drowned. He was 27 years old.


Several weeks passed and Yannina started wondering where Zoila’s order was. It was past due and she was surprised she hadn’t heard from her. She called and Zoila recounted what had happened. Yannina assured her that she would talk to the client and get more time to complete the order. “But I can’t finish the order. I don’t know how to do the eyes,” Zoila told her. “Oscar did that.”


Zoila eventually somehow finished the eyes and was surprised when Yannina kept calling her to inform her of new orders every two weeks or so. As this was far more frequent than usual, she thought she knew where they were coming from: “Oscar is sending us these orders.”


Zoila and Ruth live side by side. But their homes couldn’t be more different. Zoila’s is pretty dark. The only natural light that comes in is from the open areas where the walls and roof don’t meet. There are four rooms, shotgun style. The odor of animals is strong. You can hear neighbors moving around behind thin walls. 


In contrast, Ruth’s home and workshop is light-filled, thanks to a raised roof in one section, windows filling the space between the walls and raised roof. Flowerpots are in a small outdoors space, separating her workshop from living space. Incense burns incessantly. Still, the level of poverty they live in is astonishing.


Sam told me on our way back home that he thought they were better off than they are, based on their appearances every time he’s seen them at Manos Amigas. We shared that with Yannina and she nodded, saying, “The poorest people almost always dress themselves very carefully.” And yet Ruth told us that before working with Manos Amigas, they were "very, very poor." I can only imagine what that means. 


Ruth is able to work solely as an artisan because she can fall back on her husband’s salary if needed; he works as a security guard for a Catholic home. Zoila, however, cannot survive on just her artesanía alone. She has a small store at the front of her home where she displays some of her work but also sells miscellaneous gift items to friends and neighbors.

Zoila's store

Simon went crazy when he saw Winnie-the-Pooh on Zoila's store wall. She promptly took it off and gave it to Simon. He's not exactly showing his happiness in this photo but it's now hanging on his wall, which he points out to us several times each day.  

I am drawn in by Zoila and Ruth’s stories for several reasons. Obviously, Ruth’s losing her brother/Zoila losing her son hits very close to home, as my brother Jared died of leukemia four years ago. Their grief is very present and I relate to that.

I also appreciate how Zoila fell into pottery out of necessity but now Ruth is doing it out of love. Granted, Ruth works in ceramics out of necessity too, but she is so clearly an artist and loves the creative process. And her work is gorgeous and distinctive.

I really like Ruth's style.

I first noticed Ruth’s work when she brought in muestras in December. I don’t like nativities at all, period, and I don’t understand the craze to buy more and more of them (nativities being a great seller at Global Gifts and a large percentage of what Manos Amigas’ artisans produce), but I saw a nativity product sample that Ruth had produced and loved it. Not enough to buy it for ourselves, of course, but enough to be really excited about learning more about her and seeing her work. (Sam thought the nativity was beautiful, too, and therefore you will be able to buy it at Global Gifts this upcoming holiday season!)

The nativity in question

I am also a bit biased towards Ruth's work because she listened intently to Sam's presentation at the artisan training in December, the one where he suggested ways to design products to sell better, based on his experiences at Global Gifts. She told him how much she appreciated his input and that it had really helped her brainstorm new ideas. "I designed these pieces after your talk," she said, showing him several sculptures of a teacher reading to one or two students. "I wondered," Sam said. "I ordered a bunch for Global Gifts!" By the time this post is actually up, they should be in the stores.

A final reason why I am captivated by her work: Ruth's figures do not have eyes or detail work on their faces. I wonder if that is somehow an homage to her brother.


A mom trying to survive teaches her daughter the tools for her own trade. The daughter takes her skill to the next level and produces art. I wonder what Oscar would have been able to do, had he lived.