Friday, April 27, 2012
3:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Saturday, April 28, 2012
11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Gathering Tribes is pleased to welcome Marcelo Cipriano of Oaxaca Craft. Marcelo has made it is his passion to bring Zapotec textiles to the United States from Oaxaca, Mexico.
Oaxaca Craft is a both a personal and business venture of Marcelo Cipriano. After taking some time to explore his culture in Mexico, he was deeply inspired and impressed by the families and craft of the people of Oaxaca.
The families welcomed him into their lives eager to share their passion for their trade with him. Their simple ways and rich culture really helped him to sit back and enjoy their quality of life and admire their beautiful rugs. Victor realized he wanted to be a part of this, even if in only a small way.
He offered to help the families share their story and their beautiful craft with people all over the world. He started Oaxaca Craft and continues to bring new, unique handmade rugs every season to the US, creating all the more reason for the people of Oaxaca to continue weaving magnificent their magnificent rugs well into the future.
The artisans of Teotitlan del Valle create magnificent rugs, and only the true master weavers, design without a graphic or written pattern .....that is why every single rug created by the artisans are unique and no two are the same. Master weavers employ the methods handed down to them from their ancestors for several generations, while integrating a wonderful sense of imagination and flexibility into the traditional processes and designs. Master weavers still use handmade wooden treadle looms, almost unchanged in construction since the conquistadors introduced them. The wool used for the rugs comes from the descendants of the "churro sheep" brought to Mexico by the Spanish missionaries. The dyes used to bring the beautiful, bright colors to the rugs are naturally made by the Zapotecs. For example, the bright, distinctive reds are produced using cochineal dye derived from the crushed larvae of cochineal insects which live on nopal or prickly pear cactus. It takes about 70,000 crushed larvae to produce a pound of dye, and is a source of great pride to the weavers who use it; the blues are derived from natural indigo. The leaves of indigo plant are harvested in the coastal area of Tehuantepec still Oaxaca state. The other natural colors are also harvested in different times of the year since they come from seasonal plants like Huizache, Zempaxuchitl flower, and pomegranate fruit juice or pecan shells, and moss rock, just to mention a few natural ingredients, utilizing various components like lime, salt, ashes to facilitate absorption and fixed solid colors in the wool rugs.