A new home furnishings store with a Latin flair has opened on the edge of Dallas' Bishop Arts. Called Tlazo, it's in the vintage building at 411 N. Tyler St., in the former Ann's Nutrition, next door to Hola Café.

Tlazo is from Alejandro Gonzalez, an interior designer who has worked for more than a decade with companies like Deborah Walker and Associates, Embree & Lake Antiques, and Holly Hunt Showroom, where he was representative to Mexico.

His shop is a blend of home furnishings, antiques, art, stationery and candles, with emphasis on his Latino roots. There is furniture, pillows, fabrics, books, kitchenware, baskets, gifts, pottery, art, and more.

Gonzalez is a native of Coahuila, Mexico who moved here when he was four years old. As part of his travels to Mexico as an interior designer, he got to meet many local artisans and reconnected with a more contemporary side of his culture.

"I fell in love with my culture again and I wanted to know more about it, things I didn’t know because I grew up in the U.S." he says.

Owning his own shop had been a dream — one that was realized when a landlord he'd been working with told him about the former Ann's space.

"It was meant to be — divinely guided," he says.

He and his husband Aaron Boals created a space that looks both meticulously designed and warmly inviting. Tlazo means “precious and dear” and is also the root word for gratitude.

“I wanted to bring my culture into my business, and thought was a pretty word,” Gonzalez says.

While the shop carries a significant number of Mexican items, it also includes items from Portugal, England, India, and Colombia, and he plans to continuously expand to other regions.

Examples of the current collection include:

• Mended linens, napkins, and table runners. This Dallas organization works with indentured servants in India, helping them get out of the situation through their fair-trade work.
• Don Lino — a Dallas-based company that specializes in stylish Mexican tableware, rooted in sophisticated Mexican hospitality.
• Caminito — a Los Angeles supplier of beach and picnic blankets, created by Mexican artisans who get to preserve their craft with a fair income.

The shop buys more than 50 percent of their collection directly from artisans.

“I want people to come here and feel joy amidst everything that’s going on in the world. A place to come in and smile," Gonzalez says.