Juana and Felipe

A world between looms
ver video

Artisan creators of pedal looms, waist looms and brocade waist looms

Juana and Felipe are from the community of San Andrés Larráinzar, in the highlands of Chiapas. Juana is the matriarch of a family where both men and women work in the looms.

Men make it on a pedal loom and women on a backstrap loom. Years of history making unique textiles, where they pass on from generation to generation the magic they have in their hands to create pieces full of symbolism.

Juana has taught her community in the Sierra de Chiapas this art, where three generations are now participating, with the aim of providing work for young people so that they can stay at home and their culture is not lost.

Our future goal is to be able to give young people the opportunity to work. Juana and Felipe

This is how he makes the pieces

Proud of their work team.

In this community, they work with the pedal loom and the backstrap loom, and specifically they work with brocade.

Brocade is mostly worked on a backstrap loom and consists of drawing a repetitive pattern through the weaving, with geometric, floral and animal shapes that stand out on the right side as if it were hand embroidery.

This type of brocade is known in the Chiapas area.
And it is fully loaded with ethnic symbolism, which tells stories through the woven threads.

This work is usually done on a backstrap loom, so the width of the fabrics is narrower.

The pieces made by Juana and Felipe

Fabrics with family tradition.