When we talk about a design piece, we tend to think about what we see in the end: its materials, forms, colors, the space it inhabits and the hands that made it.

But there is a part of the process that rarely gets seen. Before a piece reaches its destination and is placed on display, there is also the work of those who make it possible for it to travel.

At CARALARGA, packaging has become an essential part of our process over the years. Especially when it comes to our Large Format textile pieces, handmade and destined for projects around the world. In these cases, protecting a piece means more than simply wrapping it and placing it inside a box; it means understanding its structure, materials, dimensions, and the way it was built in order to develop a safe way to transport it.

Today, we want to talk about those who make this part of the journey possible: the artisans behind our packaging.

Packaging also means knowing the piece.

Packaging our pieces requires more than sturdy containers; it requires understanding what is being protected.

At CARALARGA, we work with cotton thread, natural fibers, spheres, ties and structures that can behave differently depending on their size and configuration. A piece can be heavy while also spanning several meters. It can combine flexible elements with rigid structures. Certain parts may need to remain free, while others need to be securely held in place.

That is why our packaging is developed around each individual piece.

The solution adapts to its characteristics, scale and the distance it will have to travel. With a customized Large Format piece like Morse, this process becomes even more important.

Morse: a custom piece that crosses borders.

Morse is inspired by the alphabetic representation system known as Morse Code, creating a Large Format piece that can be customized in size and color, and can even incorporate encrypted messages.

For this project, created for Bishop Pass and destined for the dining spaces of Leticia’s Cocina & Cantina at Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino in Northwest Las Vegas, scale was an essential part of the challenge: 1005 x 229 cm.

A work of this size requires not only a highly detailed and carefully executed production process, but also a packaging strategy capable of accompanying it from the workshop to its final destination.

This is where our packaging team’s work takes on another dimension.

The piece is prepared to leave the workshop, remain secure throughout its journey, and arrive in proper condition for installation. Every cut, support, tube, and protective element responds to a specific need.

The goal is for everything that was carefully made by hand in Mexico to arrive at its destination ready to become part of a new space.

From textile craft to the craft of packaging.

At CARALARGA, we often talk about the value and quality of hands. The same hands that transform thread, wrap a sphere, assemble, sew and tie to give shape to each piece.

Spheres are an essential part of our visual language. Behind each one is a  handwork process, repetition and precision; a series of movements that, over time, become knowledge and craft.

At the Merma Workshop, Alejandro, Dulce and Andrés work with what would normally be discarded: textile and cardboard waste that, through their hands, finds new possibilities. This is where these materials are transformed into the cotton tassels that create the different patterns found in our Large Format works.

But there are also the hands that prepare these pieces to leave the workshop. A less visible part of the process, but equally important in making sure that something created with such care can safely reach its destination.

Over the years, our packaging artisans team has developed solutions through accumulated experience. They have learned to recognize the needs of each piece: how to protect its forms, how to distribute its weight, where to place a support, how much space it needs and how to care for elements as particular as our spheres during transportation.

This knowledge did not appear overnight. It has been built through a trial and error process, where every shipment, every test, and every piece that leaves the workshop becomes another opportunity to learn.

Because, just as with our textile work, the packaging craft is also built through hands and experience: observing, testing, making mistakes, adjusting and trying again.

Mexican design on the move.

When a CARALARGA piece leaves our workshop in Hércules, Querétaro, to become part of an international project, it is not only the object that travels. It carries with materials, techniques, processes, and hours of handcrafted work. It carries the people knowledge who took part in every stage of its creation.

In the case of this Morse, made up of three 335 cm modules, the journey took it all the way to the heart of Las Vegas, Nevada, where it will become part of the spaces of the renowned and long-established Leticia’s Cocina restaurant. The complex brings together hospitality, dining, entertainment, and event spaces, and is currently presented as a local destination within the city.

For us, every international project is an opportunity to bring mexican textile design into new contexts. At the same time, it reminds us that the journey of a contemporary handcrafted piece does not end when it leaves the workshop. Its journey is still unfolding…

The hands behind the packaging.

Today, we want to especially recognize our packaging team: Pépe, Cheque, Panchito, Fabián and Jesús.

They have dedicated time, patience, and creativity to developing a craft that for a long time remained behind the scenes. Thanks to them, what began as a practical necessity has become a body of knowledge of its own. A craft in its own right.

Cardboard discs and tubes, custom cuts, supports, and different fastening systems are part of a language that has been built within the workshop. They are tools and methods that we might not have called “techniques” if they had not been developed through years of practice. Today, however, we recognize the knowledge, experience and craft behind them.

The craft of packaging at CARALARGA.

Because behind every piece that arrives safely at its destination, there is also an organized structure of people, decisions, and techniques that made that journey possible. And in our workshop, we believe that craftsmanship is not only found in what we ultimately see; it is also in everything done to take care of it.

From Querétaro to Las Vegas, Morse is a piece that speaks of teamwork, natural fibers and a shared commitment. But it also speaks of all the hands that make it possible for design to travel.

CARALARGA / MORSE →

Photos by: Arturo Ochoa