Mexican families' lifeline in Tucson furniture biz

At a furniture gallery in Casas Adobes Shopping Center in Tucson, Steve Rosenthal is also hoping for upward ticks in the economy.

While thousands of miles and an international border separate Rosenthal's gallery and the Mexican families, the two are as connected as neighbors.

The families in Erongaricuaro, Michoacan, a western coastal state, create highly colorful and artistic furniture that is sold at MFA/eronga, run by Rosenthal. If people north of the border buy furniture, people south of the border can feed, clothe and educate their families.

If the U.S. economy continues its sluggish trend, the furniture will not sell and the families will not eat. And if the families don't eat some will come north, illegally cross the border and seek low-paying employment in our soft economy.

For all the talk and action of securing the border and keeping illegal workers out of the United States, there is little talk about the interdependency of two adjoining economies.

"It's hard to throw in the towel," said Rosenthal.

But economic uncertainty may force Rosenthal to raise a white towel.

The business's future is more than about money for Rosenthal, 60. It's about families whose livelihoods are dependent on the binational economy.

Rosenthal and his wife, Maureen, have lived in the Mexican village since the 1970s. Their three daughters grew up among the families who handcraft the furniture which has ended up in tony furniture stores and in the pages of glossy design and architectural magazines.

The Rosenthals own slightly less than half of the business while the workers, through a cooperative, own the majority. The business is a grain of sand in the total U.S.-Mexico multibillion dollar trade but it demonstrates the closeness of our binational commerce, on which many people on both sides of border stake their future.

MFA/eronga began in the early 1970s as a Mexican government project to promote local artisan crafts. The Rosenthals had ventured to the picturesque Lake Patzcuaro area after college.

They fell in love with the region, its people and culture. And they discovered the furniture carving talents in the villages on the lake's rim.

Rosenthal, son of the late Sandy Rosenthal, an interior designer who founded the Arizona Theatre Company in the late 1960s, had some knowledge of furniture finishing. He also knew the creators of the highly lacquered furniture could not sell their products if it was not marketed to buyers.

The Rosenthals immersed themselves in village life, furniture making and international commerce. The business painstakingly grew over the years, overcoming obstacles, including arcane Mexican government regulations, peso devaluation and difficulties to penetrate the global market.

The workers' cooperative and the Rosenthals persisted. At its height the business employed nearly 150 people. It was the largest employer in the lake basin area and helped keep Mexican workers at home, Rosenthal said.

In the late 1980s the business, which sold wholesale at the time, went private. In the mid-90s, Rosenthal opened a wholesale operation and by 2001 the store began selling retail to the public.

But the recession and continued Mexican government regulations are squeezing the business.

Rosenthal said the workers can continue manufacturing the furniture but he fears they will fragment and have less access to buyers outside of Mexico.

Still he remains hopeful the business will survive and the 50 families will not have to consider the difficult decision to migrate north.

"I can't imagine it not continuing," said Rosenthal. "One way or another it will continue."