TODOS SANTOS OFFICE
Plaza Bugambilias, C. Horizonte Local 1,
Brisas del Pacífico, 23300
Todos Santos, B.C.S. México
studio@hillarykent.com
Avenida Revolución 2042 Piso 5,
La Otra Banda, CDMX, 11580 Mexico
studio@hillarykent.com
MEXICAN FURNITURE SOURCING
TODOS SANTOS OFFICE
Plaza Bugambilias, C. Horizonte Local 1,
Brisas del Pacífico, 23300
Todos Santos, B.C.S. México
studio@hillarykent.com
Avenida Revolución 2042 Piso 5,
La Otra Banda, CDMX, 11580 Mexico
studio@hillarykent.com
SOURCING
Through MERCANTIL, Hillary Kent sources mexican furniture and one-of-a-kind objects made by artisan workshops across México — bench-made pieces, textiles and antiques for luxury hotels, resorts and private residences. The work begins on the road: in the hidden hillsides of mainland México, down back roads in Baja California Sur, and in workshops that never appear in a mainstream catalog. What comes back is artwork, antiques and custom pieces that carry a story and the hand of their maker.
What we source and produce
Custom furniture designed by the studio and built by Mexican workshops to residential and contract specification. Textiles — hand-embroidered, hand-woven and hand-dyed. Lighting and ceramics thrown, cast and finished by hand. Art and antiques, one-of-a-kind, sourced on the ground. From a single statement piece to a full FF&E package for an entire property, our furniture sourcing and interior design sourcing cover both custom production and procurement.
How a sourcing project runs
Every project begins with scope and story — the rooms to be furnished, the budget per space, and the feeling the property is reaching for. From there the work moves to the road. Hillary and the MERCANTIL team travel to the workshops themselves, because the makers worth working with rarely have a showroom, a sales rep or a catalog to send you.
What follows is a documented process rather than a shipment. We draw custom pieces and specify materials, then sample and prototype with the workshop until the piece is right — grain, weave, glaze, dimension. Production runs under our quality control rather than the workshop’s. Pieces are packed, freighted and cleared through customs by our own team, and arrive install-ready on the property’s construction schedule. When a hotel opens on a date, that date drives every decision upstream of it.
FF&E procurement, managed end to end
As a hotel furniture supplier and FF&E partner, MERCANTIL handles the parts of the job that usually break down between design and delivery: sampling and prototyping, artisan production and quality control, freight, customs and install-ready delivery. For designers, developers and operators, that means one accountable partner for FF&E procurement and ff&e interior design — not a chain of vendors. We work as the sourcing and production arm behind other design firms as readily as we do on our own projects.
For a closer look at how an FF&E package is scoped, budgeted, specified to contract grade and sequenced for installation, see FF&E Procurement.
Why source furniture from México
Three reasons, usually discovered in this order. The first is character: bench-made pieces carry the hand of their maker, and a room furnished with them reads as a place rather than as a product — a difference luxury guests and homeowners register immediately, even when they cannot name it.
The second is economics. Produced through MERCANTIL’s workshops, custom pieces are typically competitive with high-end retail, because the cost sits in craft and materials rather than in a brand’s distribution. The third is logistics, and it is the one that surprises people: producing in México for projects in México, Baja and the southern United States shortens the supply chain to weeks rather than the months an overseas contract order can take — without a container gamble at the end of it.
For designers, developers and operators
A large share of the studio’s sourcing work is delivered under someone else’s name, and that is by design. Design firms bring us in as their production and procurement arm when a project calls for custom Mexican work they cannot source themselves — the role we played with EDG Design at Ritz-Carlton Reserve Zadún and with Other World Design at The Well Spa, Chileno Bay.
Developers engage MERCANTIL to furnish multiple units to one consistent standard. Operators come to us when brand standards require durability documentation and a single accountable vendor instead of a chain of them. We are comfortable in any of those seats — and equally comfortable staying out of the credit.
Who we source for
Hotels, resorts and boutique properties · Private residences and villas · Real estate developments · Luxury yachts. Whether you are looking for a single one-of-a-kind object or full-project procurement, connect with the studio at studio@hillarykent.com and we’ll find — or make — the right pieces for your property.