LAFTA (Latin American Fun, Travel,
Adventure) & BUSINESS at travellog.com
Ixchel
4a Calle Oriente No. 20
Antigua Guatemala
The story of the Ixchel blankets and rugs is a love story: My
lifelong love for textiles, my special love of working with wool, my (an
American woman) love of the land and the people and the ambience of Guatemala,
the love Guatemala's working people have given me, the marriage of love
between the weavers and their tiny rangy sheep and their rivers where they
wash their blankets and the immense, deep blue sky that subtly inspires
their daily labor. One Indian family in Momostenango, Totonicapan with unending
patience and that native Guatemalan need to please with the work of their
hands has made a reality of that American woman's dream, producing a uniquely
beautiful, yet practical blankets entirely by hand with the methods traditional
in the Momostenango area.
This Quiche Indian family with their gentle movements (so in contrast to
their sharp staccato language) selects tuft by tuft only the wool that will
make a thick but drapable blanket, soft, warm, more like a fine fur than
like a textile. The wool is combed and then spun by hand on a rustic wheel,
woven on huge, heavy looms, then washed and fulled at the hot water spring
along the banks of the river. The heavy wet blankets are washed by men who
knead them with their feet, much the way one kneads bread or potters clay
with the hands. When the blankets are dry, the women brush them with teasels
(a type of thistle burr) to bring longer, straight hair to the surface.
The fringes are carefully twisted. and the blankets are ready for market.
Market for this very special blanket Means Antigua Guatemala, specifically
the rooms that were originally the chapel of the Hospital of Santiago founded
in 1535, one of the oldest in Latin America. So this space, the spirits
of the best of Guatemala (its sky, its artisans, its traditions, its fierce
independence, its gentle flow with Life) have drawn the Ixchel blankets
and rugs. When I left them there in other hands, the spirits of Guatemala
drew me back. I took the blankets away. The spirits drew the blankets back
to this beautiful, echoing domed space in different hands. Now I am here
with the blankets and rugs again, moving quietly with the flow of life in
Guatemala, still in love with wool, in love with these blankets and rugs,
in love with this exquisite dynamic space that centuries ago was the chapel
of the hospital of Santiago.
With love I, the family in Momostenago, this living space and the spirits
that inhabit it, we all unite to bring you blankets and rugs that will warm
your heart and soul and dreams.
A sus ordenes
Maribel
Ixchel textiles
Maribel is in the process of relocating her store, if you want
to see her you can find her by going to the village of San Pedro las Huertas
(an interesting ten minute ride from Antigua) and she is two streets west
of the municipality (ask anyone there for the gringa with the blankets)
as soon as she lets us know her new address we will put it up. Thanks for
your patience.
Antigua, Guatemala
Return to LAFTA & BUSINESS Antigua
homepage
Return to LAFTA & BUSINESS Guatemala homepage
Return to LAFTA & BUSINESS homepage