History

“If my mother had received the support she asked for, she would have flown very high carrying me on her back” (María Salazar Valencia).

Aida Isabel Valencia Cardeña, my mother, originally from Mérida-Yucatán, Mexico, was born in 1918, orphaned by mother, from a very young age she was forced to run a house, take care of her younger sister and watch in silence as her father, my grandfather, little by little Little gamble all the money they had.

Despite living a complicated childhood, she always enjoyed cooking recipes from her homeland with natural spices; her childhood pasted surrounded by cenotes, ancestral ruins, beaches, jungles, mangroves, fruit trees and exotic animals as something natural in her colorful environment, smells, flavors and materials typical of the south southeast  mexican region.

My mother, ahead of her time, married twice. The first time in Mérida, from this marriage my first five siblings were born. A few years later, she was widowed. Motivated by a great desire to progress, she moved to what was then called the Federal District, with the conviction of getting a better quality of life.

Once settled, in what is now called Mexico City, she decided to try her luck in commerce. She opened a grocery store, which began to be successful, mainly due to the sale of alcohol. But a street fight forced her  to close her business and thus lose all the fruit of his efforts. At that time, she met my father, Marcial Salazar, whom she married again and had three more children, with me being the second last of her  eight children. This marriage also did not turn out as expected.

¡Life seemed to close all the doors to my mother, but then she opened a window!

Eager to get ahead, she bought a sewing machine since, as a child, she had been trained in clothing sewing. She decided to venture into the production of haute couture garments. From this activity she obtained the resources to raise her children, by  working seven days a week, day and night, without hesitation or rest.

She understood from a very young age that work is essential to get ahead. Knowledge that I inherited.. Although, she also sought to preserve her personal life, as she refused to give it up and only be recognized in her role as a mother. The lack of support, combined with chronic fatigue, prevented her from having the success she could have achieved.

Aida Isabel Valencia Cardeña and I, share history. I am a mother of three, grandmother of two, and a former Public Accountant for 35 years. With two failed marriages in my life, I always had the dream of introducing Mexican Popular Art to the world.  But, with the priority of raising my children, this was postponed for many years.  Just like my mother did with her father, I brought her to live with us for the last months of her life. We had a few months together and this helped me not to be left with any unanswered questions.

In 2016, at 65 years old,I decided to create a company that would allow me to share with thousands of people around the world my love for Mexico, for its Art, for the spectacular work that artisan hands create through using natural raw materials from their region, and realizing that my mother transmitted it to me.

My mother never stopped longing for the place where she was born and the different customs she knew. In this project I am accompanied by my children, who had the fortune of knowing and falling in love, from a very early age, with the enormous worth that surrounds Mexican Popular Art.

The creation of CARDEÑA & Co. is a tribute to the woman who taught me that by pursuing your dreams you can turn them into reality; who transmitted to me her love and respect for this country, who inspires me to move forward every day and that time is wise and puts things in their place. But above all, she taught me that whenever a door closes there is a window that opens.

My goal is to contribute to the development, productivity and competitiveness of quality Mexican crafts, promoting a fair business relationship with artisans, respecting and understanding their worldview.

It is my intention that what began as a distant dream and, to a certain extent, as an unpaid debt with my mother, will become a family legacy that I am sure will be passed on from generation to generation.

María Salazar Valencia

CDMX, August 2023