This is not just another car showing off a custom paint job, it’s a 1990 Volkswagen Beetle covered in patterns and images made from over 2 million beads. The creation is called the Vochol, a mash-up of two Mexican terms – “Vocho” is slang for a VW Beetle and Huichol is the name of native people from the Sierra Madre mountains of west-central Mexico. It took eight artisans 9,000 hours to decorate the entire vehicle.
This project involved two Mexican families – the Bautistas and the Ortiz. It took them 9,000 hours to cover the bug with Huichol religous and cultural icons such as gods of sun, fire, corn, deer and peyote. The Huichol people are typically known for their embellished belts, bowls, masks and gourds which, generations ago, were covered in colourful seeds rather than beads. By adorning a less traditional object with their elaborate beadwork they hope to increase awareness of their unique talent. The crowd-pleasing Vochol is currently on display at the Smithsonian’s American Indian Museum and will continue on to tour the world.
You could be the proud owner of this car, for it will eventually be auctioned off to raise money in support of other native Mexican artists.