The main reason I headed down to Temuco this past weekend was to start gaining more familiarity with the culture of an indigenous group of people called the Mapuche. This quarter, I am getting academic credit to intern for Voz, a fair-trade sustainable Mapuche textile clothing/fashion accessory company. After this winter quarter ends, the plan is to move down South to Temuco to work full-time with Voz.
If you're interested in reading for about the start-up and its mission, I highly recommend the following blog, which was created by Voz founder, Jasmine Aarons.
On Friday morning, Jasmine took us over to visit the Chol Chol Foundation, another Mapuche textile non-profit that she works for. There website is: http://www.cholchol.org/en_index.php
Overall, the Mapuche have a very rich culture surrounding their textile industry. Everything is done by hand in an environmentally sustainable manner, from the carding of wool and brewing of all-natural plant dyes to the spinning of yarn and weaving of the textiles themselves. In addition to this well-developed methodology, the symbols within the Mapuche weavings themselves carry historical, cosmological, and religious significance.
The particular colors in a given textile reflect what plants where available to create dyes during a given period of time. Different colors not only depend on the species of plant being used, but also the acidity of the soil.
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