The manufacture of Equipale Mexican furniture dates back to pre-Hispanic times. It is considered a religious object and represents social status.
Only Mexican Equipales furniture is still made in the traditional way. They continue to be made with rosewood just like the original equipales. The wood is cut on a full moon because the wood is believed to be the hardest at that time. Equipales furniture is made with leather, wood and ixtle, a derivative of the cactus.
Families have made Equipales since Hueman, the Aztec shamon taught the ‘Equipalera’ technique from the Gods to the first settlers. Today Equipales links the mythical past to a modern cultural icon.
Traditionally the frame of the equipal is joined with ixtle, a type of vegetable fiber extracted from the maguey cactus. The seat is also laced with this fiber. The procedure to prepare and spin the ixtle was learned from their ancestors: it is extracted with cassanga, washed, dried, china and spun. Reeds and leather join the maguey fiver. Pigskin is generally preferred because it is porous and allows air to circulate.
Equipal Furniture made from leather can last up to twenty years or more:
- The structure begins with a framework of crossed splints. These are tied top and bottom to bent pieces of wood. This basic shape makes the chair lightweight yet flexible and capable of withstanding heavy use. Wooden slats are traditionally split, but are now cut with a band saw; less waste this way. The blanks for the splints are made and shaped with a machete and paring knife into pointed slats with notches at each end for tying
- The base is a thin piece (3/8″ x 3″) of wood bent into an “O” or “D” shape
- The seat frame is the same shape but made of bent willow. The splints are crossed over each other and washed above and below with thread.
- These ties are cemented with a black adhesive that used to be a vegetable rubber, but today can be asphalt or even spray. The seat has three layers. The first is made with a random weave of maguey fiber wound around a bentwood seat frame. On this is placed a braided cane seat that has been flattened. On top of these, a piece of soaked leather is stretched and stitched or stapled to the edge of the bentwood seat.
- The back is made by tying willow poles to the seat frame and folding pieces of willow over the supports for a continuous arm and back. Another piece of leather is stretched around this back and over the arms and stitched or stapled.
- Once dry, the leather is stretched tightly over the hole, giving it an attractive, comfortable look, in contrast to the rougher wooden slats below. In higher priced chairs, the seat and back are filled with foam to give the chair an upholstered look and feel.
- The real skill comes in assembling, tying and nailing the pieces.
This more elaborate construction is made with only the simplest of tools, a machete, knife, and hammer. There are new releases as Mexican designers and manufacturers are hard at work to accommodate all tastes in Equipale Mexican furniture.
Equipale Furniture includes Pigskin Barrel Chairs, Side Tables, Pub Tables, Coffee Tables, Peacock Chairs, Kids Barrel Chairs, Square Foot Stools, Rectangular Tables, Bar Stools, Sofas and much more. Feel free to contact me whenever you need or want. I am always more than happy to help.