While we tend to think of iron window bars and iron doors in terms of security first and aesthetics second, here in Sayulita there is definitely a level of artistry involved in the creation of these hand-made home security components. The guys that make this stuff take pride in their work, and it shows. The designs are not necessarily sophisticated, but they are usually interesting to look at, if you take the time and absorb a few details. You’ll discover real beauty in the ironwork on windows and doors.
Like so many other crafts in Mexico, the creation of ironwork is a low-down, messy, and generally uncomplicated affair. Guys with welding torches work in open air shops, with little or no safety gear or regulation. This lack of regulation and the informal quality of these businesses may have some drawbacks, but it does help keep prices extremely low, by American standards.
My friend Jack Kearny, who recently visited from Seattle, has a shop up there where he and a crew of 7 full-time employees design and construct custom metal doors, windows, tables, railings, and myriad other pieces, usually from his own designs or the designs of an architect or industrial designer. When I told him the cost of the iron and glass doors we had designed and installed in our house here (yes, for security reasons) last year, he just laughed. “I couldn’t even get the materials for that kind of money,” he said. Materials cost plenty more up there, and then there is the cost of all the stuff you don’t have to pay for down here: insurance, safety gear, workmen’s comp, etc., etc.
For better or worse, Mexico’s free-for-all style keeps the prices down. Don’t we all know it, and take advantage of it, with our bargain basement housekeepers, gardeners, electricians, and the like. So bargain all you want with your workers, but whatever price you settle on, know that it’s a good deal and don’t complain if your housekeeper asks for a raise from her current four bucks an hour or whatever you are paying her.
Materials and labor are much cheaper here. There’s no denying that metalwork installations can be rougher, less seamless, lacking in the kind of finesse you’ll find in the American and European design magazines. But at a certain point, in Sayulita, you come to understand, or to accept, that things are done differently here. Not quite as perfectly finished, perhaps, but take a look at our photographic collection of charming, rustic, and well-wrought iron windows, screens, and doors. This is fine work, and made to last.
