Photography by Ashlee Newman Photography
The idea for a new collection was something I had been thinking about for years. It was this little thought I kept tucked away in the back of my mind, in a safe little corner, and even while I was taking a break from Mi Tia, it never really went away.
When I stepped away from the shop, I was ready for a break. Mi Tia had become a business where we were moving through a lot of clothing, and while I loved those pieces and that season of the shop, I knew I needed some distance from it. I wasn’t quite sure what Mi Tia would look like if I came back to it, or even if I would.
Then we went to Sayulita.
While wandering around this sleepy little beach town outside of Puerto Vallarta, I came across a woven palm clutch. It was simple, beautiful and incredibly well made, and it was the first thing I had bought from Mexico in months.
I was instantly inspired.
Palm was everywhere that summer. Woven bags had become a huge trend, and I was seeing them in boutiques, magazines, beach towns and even in Paris. So it wasn’t that I felt like I had discovered something completely new. What I loved was the material itself and the way the pieces from Mexico felt connected to something deeper.
Palm is such an interesting material. It feels natural and alive, but also sturdy enough to handle real life. It can feel relaxed and casual, but somehow still polished. It can be trendy and classic at the same time, which I think is part of what drew me in so quickly.
I loved that little clutch then, and I still do.
As the months passed, I kept seeing palm pieces everywhere, but I kept thinking about the ones from Mexico. There was something different about knowing that many of these pieces came from a real place, a family and a tradition, and that the person who made them often wasn’t very far removed from the person selling them.
That part stayed with me.
One of the things I have always loved most about Mexico is how often you can trace something beautiful back to the person who made it. There is usually a story behind the object, even if you have to ask a few questions to find it.
That has always been at the heart of Mi Tia too.
Somewhere along the way, I found Isabel Hernández Arenas, an artisan from Oaxaca whose family has been working with palm for generations. I reached out to her, and the more I learned about her work, her family and the process behind the pieces, the more the idea for Mi Tia started to come back into focus.
It reminded me that what I wanted wasn’t just to sell beautiful things from Mexico. I wanted to be able to tell you where they came from, who made them and why they matter.
That was the piece I had been missing.
Learning about Isabel and her family gave me the final push I needed to begin again, but in a way that feels more intentional than before.
This version of Mi Tia will look a little different. I’ll be introducing smaller, more curated collections, and I want each one to feel connected to its source. I want to choose pieces because I genuinely love them, because they are useful and beautiful, and because there is something worth sharing about where they came from.
There won’t be an endless stream of new arrivals. That isn’t really what I want anymore.
Instead, I hope Mi Tia becomes a place where you can find things that feel special enough to keep. Things made from natural materials. Things made by real people. Things that carry a little bit of the place they came from with them.
That little idea I had tucked away for all those years finally feels ready, and this collection feels like exactly the right place to begin.
If you were here during the first chapter of Mi Tia, thank you for coming back. And if you’re just finding us now, I’m so happy you’re here.
Welcome back to Mi Tia Goods.
Beautiful things, with a story.