On our latest trip to Guatemala, we had the pleasure of taking a weaving class with the master weaver at the association that we partner with. In collaboration with the association of weavers, for the past few months we have been working on designing a collection of pillows, wallets and clutches all made from textiles made on the backstrap loom. Some of the patterns are simple, more complicated are the brocades, and even more complex are the Jaspé. In a future blog post we will take an in depth look at the Jaspé dying process that creates the gorgeous Ikat designs.
We met our partners at their head office where they proudly presented us with the finished products. They are beyond beautiful and surpass all expectations that we had. We were excited to get started with our lesson and thought that by the end of the day, we would surely be able to weave something beautiful to take home. We thought that a placemat would be a simple and achievable goal. Little did we know that the fruits of an entire day’s work would be a small six inch by six inch textile.
While we have always had a serious appreciation of all things handmade, and a long term love affair with textiles, we never fully understood the intricacies of this art form, and the level of complexity behind the textiles woven on the backstrap loom.