Las Cruces, NM, August 23--The story of Casa Mexicana Tile begins in the fields. A native of Mexico, Isidro Peña was five when he began as a laborer in the agricultural world. Sixty-two years later he celebrates his 25th year as a businessman in his adopted country, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News.
"Sometimes I can't believe it," the 67-year-old owner of Casa Mexicana Tile said in a deep yet soft voice.
He works with his family. Two of his children, daughter Martha Orta and his son Isidro Jr., work at the business which is located just south of Las Cruces on Hwy. 478.
"He's a man with a fourth-grade education coming from Mexico," said Orta, 37. "He was a farmer. An immigrant working in the fields. One day he went and bought this machine that can compress concrete. He worked out of a little shed and started growing from there." The daughter's eyes sparkle when she discusses her father.
"The United States makes it possible," she said. "It really is the American dream." Isidoro Vaquero, president of InnOvative Touch Inc., has known and worked with the family for more than five years.
"They have New Mexico's largest in-stock tile store," he said. "You come here you buy it and you walk out with it." The company not only domestic products but tile from Italy, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, England, France, Brazil and Taiwan.
"We eat, we breathe tile," Orta said with a laugh. "When we walk into a restaurant or any business, we're always checking out the tile. It's so funny because that's the first thing you do. Sometimes you look and say, 'Oh this is my tile work!'"
Peña is a humble man who gives credit to his family. "I did the first portion and they did the rest," he said.
Like many in his country, Peña did indeed go to work at a young age. "That's how you survive," Orta said, "there's no such thing as pushing education as there is in the United States." Peña made his way to the United States were we worked the fields.
Finally, in 1978 Peña purchased the machine to compress concrete and starting making and selling tile. Then he had a chance to buy 6,000-square feet of tile from Spain.
"He bought it and, to our amazement, we ended up selling that 6,000-square feet rapidly, versus the compressed tile," Orta said. The business was on its way.
Casa Mexican was located in several places before it moved into its currently location, where it has resided now for 15 years.
"We started out with a small showroom and a small warehouse." Orta said. "We expanded our showroom and we expanded our warehouse and we have another warehouse."
Orta said she enjoys the variety of the tile business. "It's ever changing," she said. "It's like the fashion industry. You have this new, this new, this is old. Tiles have become so trendy." That means the owners must be vigilant to what is in demand and try to predict what trends will be popular.
"We constantly have to update," she said. "We go to the shows in Italy. And there's one in Orlando and one in Las Vegas. We try to attend two or three shows every year.
