Reproduction Nacimiento

This nativity is somewhat controversial. Its proto-type in Spanish colonial style was created by renowned santero and mass-produced from a mold with resin, a fragile plastic-like material.

Susan Top Weber, owner of Susan’s Christmas Shop in Santa Fe was quoted in a November 25, 2013 article in a local newspaper (Santa Fe + New Mexican) as having said about these reproduced nativities: “We sold them by the thousands,”  adding that Carrillo was unfairly criticized locally for the piece. “They thought it was too commercialized. There’s a place in this world for both of these things.” The sets were originally produced at a factory in the Philippines. “[The Filipino factory workers] seemed to understand the Spanish colonial style,” because their country was once occupied and influenced by the Spanish culture just like the Southwest, she said. The Filipino factory eventually closed and the production of Carrillo’s mass-produced Nativity was moved to a factory in China. The Chinese had problems right from the start, however, and the arrangement didn’t last, Weber added. Today, Carrillo’s mass-produced sets are collector’s items, just like many of the one-of-a-kind sets.