I started by making one of a kind woven clothes for my grandson. We wanted A Guatemalan / Mayan inspired look to represent his heritage. This led to opening our small business and started including woven keychains, floral key fobs, colorful fabric lanyards and much more. These were created from the traditional woven belts that our region is known for. Traditionally, the woven cintas or belts are used to adorn a woman's hair. Only a very few woman still weave in the traditional way, including myself. With the younger generations being more interested in the western culture, less and less weavers remain.
All of our items are handmade and eco friendly through the use of the backstrap or hip strap loom which has been in use for over two millennia. It is a weaving apparatus supported by two wooden bars. The front bar is attached to a solid support while the back bar is attached to the weaver's waist. The loom is simple and portable and when the weaving is done, nothing is left but the wooden sticks!
The weaving process is an ardous process, the most difficult part is setting up the threads on the loom to ensure thread count is correct for the pattern to be woven on.
My wrist lanyards are unique I do not resell or mass produce. The patterns and designs on our woven textile is unique to our region and we are taught how to weave from a young age. You will NOT find these exact patterns or items anywhere else unless you go to a very small region in Guatemala. Each Mayan region has it's own mini culture and story to tell through their weaving.
For example the floral "cinta" is traditionally made with town-specific colors, motifs, and designs. Our area in the highlands of Guatemala uses a particular floral pattern which signifies our region.
The flowers also traditionally symbolize the cycle of birth, death, and regeneration.
The sales from floral keychains is modest but when sales are great it has become enough to include a few more weavers when the demand allows. We hope to grow so that we can, not only keep this tradition alive, but also to empower women by giving them a way to provide for their families and in this way uplift the community and it's traditional values.
Attached are some videos and photos of me weaving to illustrate the process.