At the base of the Sierra Madres mountains, the Chavez family located in the artisan village of Teotitlan del Vall, specializes in the making of colors and forms of wool weaving that characterize one of the region’s richest oldest craft traditions in all of Mexico. The multigenerational family all participates in the process of cultivating wool, spinning the fibers, then dyeing them with natural dyes made from plants, insects, and minerals and weaving premium handmade pieces to the using a treadle loom made with milled lumber and metal fittings that has not changed much since the conquistadors.
The Chavez family welcomes you in with warm local hospitality!
Grandma Ana is the first to offer to braid your hair, offer you a snack of crickets (a very common snack in the Oaxacan culture) before showing you the most incredible craftsmanship found in these purses. At 7 years old, Anna began committing designs to memory, as she watched her parents and grandparents crafting these handmade fabrics. Now, she is a distinguished Master Weaver.
While her son Mario offers the coldest watermelon juice on a hot July day, Anas husband Juan is at the loom. Mario begins the natural dye process. The colors are made from indigo, moss, nuts, leaves, bark, and other natural products. Cochineal, a dye derived from a particular cactus-eating insect common in Oaxaca, produces a distinct shade of red associated with Zapotec weavings. The bodies of the female cochineal, when ground and made into dye, create various shades of crimson and orange highly valued in fabric designs.
We hope you enjoy the experience knowing that through the buying of these purses, you are buying into the rich heritage dating back in the area for over 2000 years.
As you purchase a piece of history from the Chavez artisan family, the purses are made by our women in Tijuana offering them job training skills empowering them to a path forward. Your purchase of these purses goes directly to these women giving them income as well as bringing them out of the bounds of poverty.