My Creative Story

My creative story didn’t begin with a plan. It began with curiosity — the kind that grabs you by the hands before it reaches your mind. Growing up in Los Cabos, I was surrounded by color, by celebration, by the stories we tell with our traditions. But I never imagined I would end up building giants that walk among people.

For years I tried different paths. I worked, I explored, I searched. But art kept pulling me back. Not the academic kind — the kind that grows from instinct and necessity. Creating became the one place where my thoughts slowed down and my hands understood what to do.

The turning point was simple: I wanted to build something that didn’t exist yet.

My first mojigangas were rough, heavy, and imperfect. I didn’t know what I was doing — I just knew I wanted to give shape to an emotion, to a character, to a presence larger than life. Every mistake became a teacher. Every failure opened another door. The process itself guided me more than any instruction ever could.

Then came the moment that changed everything:
The first time I stepped inside one of my own creations.

I remember standing there, looking out through the tiny mesh, feeling the weight on my shoulders. And then I walked — and people reacted. Children laughed, adults smiled, strangers forgot whatever they were thinking and met me with pure surprise. In that moment I understood that my work wasn’t just art… it was connection.

It was a bridge.

Over time, my pieces evolved — lighter frames, more expressive faces, movements that felt natural and alive. I learned how to balance tradition with innovation, how to honor the Catrina while giving her my own language, how to let the puppets become characters instead of objects.

My creative story is still unfolding. Every parade, every wedding, every commission brings a new chapter. Sometimes the road is difficult — long hours, unexpected problems, the quiet doubts no one sees — but I keep going because I know the feeling that waits at the end: the moment when a giant figure takes its first steps and the world reacts.

This is what keeps me creating:
The possibility that something I make with my hands can lift the spirit of someone I’ve never met.

That is enough reason to continue.

— Antonio Lapierre