In 1952, Cuban-Mexican designer Clara Porset organized Mexico’s first design exhibition, “El arte en la vida diaria. Objetos de buen diseño hechos en México” (Art in daily life. Well-designed objects made in Mexico). That show, together with Porset’s ideas, marked a turning point in the trajectory of design in Mexico by aspiring the unification of local traditions and the dream of industrialization. This book surveys the genealogy of artisans, promoters, entrepreneurs and designers who have contributed to the development of Mexican handcrafted designs for the better part of the last seventy years, staking their claims on a hybrid or mestizo form of material culture and furnishing modern life with a locally specific way of producing objects.

The book explores industrial graphic design, clothing, furniture, objects, jewellery and fashion. One of its main purposes is to act as a reference for the history of design in Mexico.