José María Balmaceda is a textile artist from Mexico city. He started his career working in fashion and costume design, before finding his true passion: textiles. That’s when José María decided to work with indigenous textile artisans in Chiapas, in southeastern Mexico.

While looking for a change in his professional practice, he went on a trip to India and Nepal, only to discover a world full of fibers and techniques he had never seen before. That is when the real adventure began.

Having met his Indian and Nepali partners, who eventually became family, José María started working on the pieces of his first collection: Fossil. A collection that brought together his fears and demons and took them to the light. By fighting and conquering them, he fossilized them into 7 irregular rugs made in Katmandu, Nepal, which experimented with technique and materials to create something new. This collection was later displayed in the Angulo Cero Gallery and in ZONA Maco 2019 in Mexico City.

The roots of the artisans he works with are now deeply tangled with his own. With every trip to India and Nepal he is inspired by their Asian culture and mixes it up with his Mexican heritage, giving his work a multicultural light.

Balmaceda is an ever-developing artist, always pulling threads from the unknown.