Casa Xali
Handmade Mexican Fashion
Brooklyn, NY
•
EST 2021
In Spanish, casa means home, a place where you're surrounded by the people and things you love. The most fundamental form of a casa is your body, or your cuerpo.
Our bodies "house" our minds, support and sustain us, and empower us to take on the physical world. They're our most valuable possessions and should be adorned with beautiful accessories that convey our identities.
In the Aztec language Nàhuatl, Xali (sha-lee) means sand, and represents movement, flow, and a connection to mother earth.
We started Casa Xali to preserve traditional Mexican mastery, and re-introduce these handmade crafts to the modern world.
Sustainable
Handmade
Gives back
Ariela Trepman (She/Her), Arie Salomon (He/Him)
Co-Founder
Besides having matching names, Ariela and Arie attended lower school together in Mexico City. Years later, they've re-connected in NYC when Ariela was working as a pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, while Arie was an exhibition designer at the Whitney Museum.
During the summer of 2020 they decided to combine their creative forces into one project.
Y entonces, Casa Xali was born.
Casa Xali combines their admiration for traditional Mexican design and craftsmanship, while bridging the gap between their two neighboring cultures.
Ariela, Co-Founder
¡Hola! Ariela here, I was born and raised in Mexico City, but I've spent the past few years in NYC working as a pastry chef in Michelin Star restaurants until I started my own baking company, One Hungry Baker, where I combine two of my passions, art and food. Someone once called my cakes the "edible combination of Kandinsky and Rothko" - oh wait that was me.
Arie, Co-Founder
¡Que onda! I'm Arie, I was raised by an architect and a costume designer in Mexico City before moving to Brooklyn to pursue a career in architecture. I'm a multidisciplinary designer and artist, I have collaborated with the Whitney Museum, Yellow Studio, WeWork (until I got laid-off on my birthday and as a present, got my 15 minutes of fame and made it to the WSJ). I currently design buildings at Snohetta.