Once upon a time, there was a coffee cup…

In 2004, Guy Rolland, executive search consultant for 17 years, comes back from a trip in Ecuador during which he crossed the Andes from Quito to Cuenca. Besides souvenirs that are forever burned in his brain, he brings back a particular item in his suitcase: a coffee cup.

So what?

This cup, hand-crafted and hand-painted in olive, ochre, sapphire, and burned orange tones quickly becomes a favorite object proudly displayed on a kitchen shelf. Whoever wants to drink in it must win the privilege. It also becomes the pretext to the recounting of anecdotes related to the journey: escalating the Cotopaxi volcano, still in activity, savoring a delicious dish of guinea pig, experimenting the feel of the ground vibrations due to seismic activities, visiting the livestock market in Ambato…

In 2011, convinced that the Ecuadorian ceramic dishware, reminiscent of sunshine and warmth, must adorn the tables of our winter-cold Canada, Guy contacts Artesa and offers to import its products. A second trip to Ecuador in 2012 to meet the managers, visit their installation, confirm the superior quality of the work of the artists and artisans leads him to enter into an agreement and become the sole importer and distributor of Artesa products in Québec and Ontario.

This trip is also an occasion to meet Eduardo Vega, an internationally renowned artist, also one of the founders of Artesa. Eduardo is the creator of the majority of the patterns decorating the Artesa dishware. He has studied art and ceramics in well-known schools in Bourges, London and Madrid.

The richness of the Andean colors, the superior quality and resistance of Ecuadorian ceramics, the uniqueness of the pieces hand-crafted one at a time by passionate and rigorous artisans, a product never before offered in Canada: that is what Importations Nouveau Monde inc. is all about. We will endlessly pursue our quest for the best in the arts of the table to bring to you beauty, originality and quality.