New Orleans, Louisiana (foundry in Mexico City, Mexico) · Est. 1991 · Founded by Beatriz Ball
Beatriz Ball was born in Havana, grew up in Mexico, and in 1991 began working alongside metalware artisans on the outskirts of Mexico City to create something that didn't exist yet -- tableware that was genuinely handmade, genuinely beautiful, and built for the way people actually live and entertain. More than twelve sets of hands touch every single piece. That's not a detail. That's the whole point.
Beatriz Ball grew up in Mexico watching local artisans work in metal -- intricate, skilled, ancient work that was slowly being abandoned as silver prices rose and cheaper materials took over. In 1991, she started collaborating with those same craftspeople, helping them adapt their techniques to a new alloy she developed herself: a lustrous blend that looks like silver, requires no polishing, and holds up to a lifetime of dinner parties.
She built her own foundry outside Mexico City, dedicated entirely to her designs. Today nearly 100 artisans work there, using the same sand-casting methods the Greeks and Romans used -- pouring molten aluminum into sand molds, then hand-finishing each piece through four levels of polishing. More than twelve sets of hands are involved in every bowl, every tray, every serving piece before it leaves the workshop.
Beatriz splits her time between New Orleans and Mexico City, running a brand that has won the ARTS Award for Tabletop excellence six times and landed on Oprah's Favorite Things list in 2017. The pieces are carried at Neiman Marcus and Harrods. They also belong on a registry -- the kind of gift someone unwraps and puts on their table that same evening, and never puts away.
