Serie Taína
Five glazes, thrown in black clay
Serie Taína names each glaze for a word or figure from Taíno language and cosmology — the Indigenous people of Borikén (Puerto Rico). It’s a nod to my family’s land in Utuado, the mountain region that became one of the last strongholds of Taíno resistance after 1511, and home to Caguana, the largest Indigenous ceremonial site in the Caribbean.
These are the first results out of the kiln, so the glazes aren’t listed for sale yet. If one calls to you, email me and we’ll sort it out over Venmo — or start a commission.
Turquoise
Carey — the hawksbill sea turtle
A Taíno word still alive in Puerto Rican Spanish today, alongside huracán, hamaca, and canoa. In myth the Turtle Woman is the ancestral mother, from whom the Taíno people were born. This shifting turquoise recalls the shallow reef waters where carey still feed.
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White
Casabe — cassava flatbread
The flatbread the Taíno made from bitter yuca — their staple, and one of their most enduring gifts to Caribbean cooking. Pale and elemental, it's the base glaze with nothing added: every other glaze in the series is built on top of it, the way so much of the island's food is built on casabe.
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Cobalt Blue
Atabey — supreme mother goddess of the waters
Self-created from the primordial universe — goddess of fresh water, the earth, fertility, and the moon. Rivers, springs, and rain belong to her, and her image appears among the petroglyphs at Caguana. The deepest blue in the series is hers: night water under a full moon.
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Brown
Conuco — the cultivated earth
The Taíno farm plot, worked into raised earthen mounds called montones that guarded the yuca and sweet potato from erosion and flood. It stands for cultivation and sustenance — the nickel brown of earth, mounded and ready.
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Green
Yuquiyú — spirit of the yuca & the sea
From Yúcahu, the supreme spirit born of Atabey, said to dwell on the cloud-covered peak the Taíno called Yuké — a name the Spanish corrupted into El Yunque. This copper green is the canopy of his mountain.
Email about this glaze →Forms in the series
What’s being made
Each form is thrown in black clay and finished in the Taíno palette.
Launching soon — email to reserve one in the glaze you’re after.
- Desk lamps
- Vase lamps
- Mushroom tealights
- Rice bowls
- Pasta bowls
- Mugs
- Lidded jars