Rago Auctions

Margot Van Voorhies led a dramatic, adventurous yet tumultuous life. Van Voorhies’ early life is veiled with mystery and a bit of chaos. Margot Van Voorhies was born in San Francisco in 1897 to parents Marie Albine “Albina” Chabot (1861-1931) from Quebec, and Albert “Allie” Durand (Van Voorhies) (1860-1903) from Louisiana. Penny C. Morrill (the author of Margot Van Voorhies: The Art of Mexican Enamelwork) explains in great depth the background story of Margot Van Voorhies’ parents. Albert “Allie” Durand had taken on a new identity when moving away from his prominent and influential family in Louisiana to California, abandoning his last name Van Voorhies and adopting his mother’s maiden name Durand instead, and falsely declaring that he had been born in Missouri in 1864. Originally from Quebec, Albina had moved to Lowell, Massachusetts in search of a job in the textile industry, then made her move to the West Coast following her brother Robert to live near her paternal uncle Anthony Chabot, a Quebec-born successful businessman. Allie and Albina were married in 1896 in San Francisco, with Albina adopting Durand as her last name. After Allie’s sudden death in 1903, Albina and Margot were left to fend for themselves.

It is speculated, that after Allie’s death, his biological family reached out to Albina and Margot, or perhaps Albina found out about her late husband’s true identity on her own. Upon learning his family heritage, both Albina and Margot changed their last name to Van Voorhies, though not immediately. In order to provide for her only child, Albina took on a role of the breadwinner and began working as a hairdresser. In 1906, during the San Francisco earthquake and fire, Albina and Margot lost everything they owned, including their home and Margot’s birth certificate. Between the aftermath of the disaster and 1915, Margot and her mother’s whereabouts are unclear, however it is evident they were resilient and hardworking people. Margot and Albina opened a beauty salon in 1915 in Berkeley. Four years later they relocated back to San Francisco. Here, Margot worked as a bookkeeper and a stenographer, and decided to live independently from her mother. Albina began living with and working for Margaret Clayes at this time, a local business owner who fabricated and sold Asian-inspired decorative art objects. Clayes played an important role in Margot Van Voorhies’ business ventures, both as an inspiration and later as a supplier of materials. Regarding this relationship, Morrill stated: “Margot had a role model in Margaret Clayes, a woman who created her own designs and then administered their production in her factory…Margaret Clayes’ admiration for Asian art could have made a lasting impression on Margot, considering the fact that, in her own designs years later, Margot often returned to the Asian aesthetic.”

In 1927, Margot married Francis Evans Carr, a dentistry student. While he was attending school, Margot was the sole breadwinner as a cosmetologist at a local store. In 1931, Albina was tragically killed during a robbery. This event caused Margot to undergo severe emotional trauma. Due to the strain it had put on their relationship, Margot and Carr were divorced by 1936 after a short marriage. Perhaps to lighten the mood, Margot went on a trip to Mexico with her friends the next year. This trip turned out to be the “change of scenery” she had been looking for, as she decided to settle down in Mexico City and subsequently started working for a photography studio. She was exposed to the art of photography during this brief period, which surely would have added to her artistic experience. In the summer of 1938, Margot and Antonio Castillo became romantically involved despite their age difference, and they were married soon after.

The quaint town of Taxco was up and coming, with small groups of tourists and artists trickling in from busier towns in search of peace and inspiration. Antonio Castillo had been working for William Spratling as one of his most talented silversmiths. Together, Margot and Antonio decided to start their own business making and selling silver jewelry. Their venture seemed a bit treacherous given a number of micro workshops that were already in business, copying and selling the popular designs by Spratling. Spratling was not too keen on the idea of letting Antonio go, but he did so “with one request, that the Castillos never replicate his designs.” In 1939, Castilllos en el Aire was established, but soon the name was changed to Los Castillo when Antonio’s two brothers, Jorge and Justo Castillo, and his cousin Salvador Terán joined in to work as silversmiths. During the formative years, Los Castillo experimented “with a variety of techniques, materials, and business practices that was on a grand scale,” which brought improvements such as rolling mills, polishing machines and blowtorches, to facilitate the tedious manufacturing process by hand, as well as an effective numbering system for their inventory.

As the primary designer, Margot took inspirations from a wide array of sources, including pre-Columbian motifs found in the nearby archeological sites, Mayan, Baroque, Rococo, Ancient Roman and Greek, Chinese and Japanese. Her design, as a whole, can be described as having stylized geometry, defined outlines, and figurative yet abstract motifs. Margot did not shy away from designing bold and large statement pieces of jewelry, finished with hand-hammering, repoussé work, beading and vibrant semi-precious gemstones. Margot incorporated Chinese ivory figurines and Japanese netsukes in her jewelry, which were likely supplied by Margaret Clayes. The workshop stayed profitable during World War II, thanks in part to the U.S. Government that had Mexican workshops supply military identification bracelets to them, among other items. In 1944, Los Castillo’s jewelry was introduced at La Tausca in New York City. Despite the success, Margot and Antonio’s marriage was falling apart, and it unfortunately ended in divorce in 1946.

With her undefeated spirit, Margot went onto start another business less than a year after the divorce; this time in her name, Margot de Taxco. Now with years of experience in jewelry designing and business acumen, Margot de Taxco quickly began to flourish, employing hundreds of silversmiths. The crew at Los Castillo were not too happy with her independent success. They threatened to get her expatriated out of Mexico, to which she remarked: “Unfortunately, when a legal problem arises, I will lose because I have two problems working against me: I am a woman and a foreigner.” Upon meeting a salesman from a Mexico City-based enamel company, Margot became hopeful that her artistic vision that hadn’t truly been fulfilled thus far could finally come true, with usage of colorful enamel work. In 1949, Sigi Pineda joined Margot de Taxco to head the enameling department. After many trials and errors, Margot de Taxco was finally able to perfect the craft of enameled jewelry and metalwork. Margot would complete the design drawings in gouache, which would then be die cast by Arturo Sorio. Many local women were employed by Margot de Taxco to work as enamellists, which was a major milestone in the silversmithing community of Taxco largely consisted of men.

Despite the success, a fire in 1953 destroyed her workshop and killed two of her enamellists. When her landlord refused to renew her lease, Margot had to move to a new space. This new workshop was also damaged in fire. After moving to two different locations afterward, near Rancho Alegre, Margot de Taxco seemed to finally be on track to be back in business. The store was crowded with tourists, and their jewelry and ware were sold in multiple Sanborns locations and hotel boutiques across Mexico, along with several designated outlets in the U.S. However, repeated workers’ strikes, higher wages and the Mexican government’s social security requirements were driving up the cost of operation. To make matters worse, an employee was found out to have embezzled a large sum of money from the business. Ultimately, in 1977, Margot declared bankruptcy, and her assets including the tools from the workshop were auctioned off by the government. A large portion of the original die casts were acquired by a man named Melecio Rodríguez, who has been tracking down the rest of the dies and creating reproductions with his son and grandsons under their family’s name.

Margot de Taxco, once a prolific brand cherished by Hollywood celebrities like Lana Turner, John Wayne and Tony Curtis, and jewelry collectors worldwide, left a distinctive mark in the mid-century jewelry design history. Today, Margot Van Voorhies’ designs continue to bring interested bidders and collectors together at auction. Her work can be found in many private collections and institutional collections such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Tulane University’s Latin American Library Spratling-Taxco Collection, and Kemper Art Museum in Saint Louis.