By DAVID MANDICH - Cabo Mexico Travel Writer

Mexican Rustic furniture involves elements of Native Indian, Spanish Colonial, Arabic, Mexican Ranchero and sometimes - even Chinese. Americans view it as Southwestern or Santa Fe style while Mexicans view it as a national style.

Mexican rustic furniture is made primarily from soft Mexican pine that grows abundantly in the Sierra Madre mountains near Durango and Chihuahua. Tarahumara and Tepehuane Indians inhabited the land for centuries prior to the arrival of the Spanish. After the conquest, the Spanish Crown instigated lumber and furniture production in the region utilizing indigenous Indian labor. Raw lumber, and wood products such as doors, and window frames were made for building construction with furniture and religious artwork manufactured for markets at home and abroad. Today - over 500 years later, the tribes are still at work producing wood products on their reservations with demand growing due to the popularity of the furniture in the USA and at home in Mexico.

The furniture is noted for its use of locally made materials including finished leather coverings, woven wool and cotton fabrics, and black ornamental iron used for hinges, drawer pulls and decorative caps. Tabletops can be inlayed with fieldstone, hand painted tiles, hammered copper or even native rattan. Mexican soft pine readily lends itself to hand carving of Indian, Spanish and Arabic motifs centuries old.

A full range of furnishings are produced including sofas, chairs, dining room tables, kitchen cabinets, armoires, bed sets, desks etc. - all finished in a variety of manner. Natural waxed wood remains the most popular finish with it's finely sanded and waxed finish, bringing out the warmth, color, and character of the wood. Stained and varnished finishes hide the color and texture of the pine while adding subtle natural colors. Furniture painted in traditional fiesta bright primary colors with cartoon-like sun faces, birds and flowers are reminiscent of Mexico's' famed Ultra-Baroque cathedrals as found in Puebla and Cholula.

The interior of Mexico's famous Cholula cathedral looks like the aftermath of an explosion in a toy factory with the entire surface area of the building interior covered with brightly painted and gold leafed carvings of saints and angels in high relief. The Indians who built these fabulous cathedrals in the mid 1500's were the same artisans employed earlier by the Aztecs thus design elements of the two cultures (Spanish & Indian) can be found mixed like a wonderful salsa in Mexican Rustic furniture of today.

As old as Mexico itself - this furniture is the perfect complement to the new casas being constructed today. Mexican pine breathes, it's practical and it ages gracefully. The more beat-up it gets in life - the better it looks. It's versatile, and will work successfully in a variety of interior design situations given its rich East-West heritage.

You can find Mexican Rustic Furniture in stores throughout Mexico and the American Southwest. Guadalajara, is famous among the interior design trade for being Mexico's major resource center for fabrics, tiles, art, furniture, pottery, ironwork, and much more. Many designers take their clients shopping there much as they do on Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

David Mandich, has been living, writing and selling real estate in Cabo for 10 years. A Century 21 Paradise Properties Agent and expert on Condos, Villas and Gated Communities, he can be emailed at: yachtdorado@yahoo.com or reached via telephone at: Cabo Local: 624-143-1011, Cel. 044 624 132 8919