Marta Isabel Huitraiñan Aillapán, Huichiqueo, Chile
Member of VOZ, Fundación Chol Chol, Asociación Wallantu Witral, & Wiñoy Wem Domo weaving groups
Phone: (56)(9) 90978384
Audio: Marta Isabel Huitraiñan Aillapán, Weaver
Audio: Jacqueline Valdebenito Monasterio, Weaver
Bio:
I give Marta a quick cell phone call so she knows to board as my bus approaches the paradero, or stop, where she waits with few other women who also specialize in indigenous Mapuche weaving. It is 2:45 pm, and they have just finished a monthly meeting with a non-profit called La Fundación Chol-Chol, during which the women turn in textiles, receive new orders, and discuss upcoming events.
Minutes later, when Marta takes a seat next to me, she excitedly pulls out a plastic bag. Look! These are plants I can use to dye wool blue and red. They were gifted from a wood export company’s educational program. The news comes of no surprise. In recent years, various efforts to revive Chile’s cultural roots and arts, especially matters related to the country’s largest indigenous group, the Mapuche, have gained momentum. While groups like La Fundación Chol-Chol have been around for over 30 years and produce traditional articles, such as the Trariwe belt or Manta Cacique, others focus on innovation based on these older methods. One such company, called VOZ, was founded by Stanford graduate Jasmine Aarons in 2009. VOZ runs design workshops with weavers, helping them brainstorm, prototype, and sell their own contemporary fashion articles, ranging from clutch purses to dresses.
Pictures from Education Design Workshops with VOZ
Ironically, the majority of weavers in the area are not actually descended from the Mapuche. Rather, they picked up the practice through educational workshops called capacitaciones. Mapuche herself, Marta is the exception. Although her Mother and siblings do not know how to weave, Marta gravitated towards the craft as a child and asked her grandmother to teach her at the age of 13. Now, Marta is an expert at all the steps of textilería, ranging from the carding of wool from sheep and washing and spinning of yarn to creating plant dyes, preparing the loom, or urdiembre, and finally weaving the textile. A big smile spreads across Marta’s face as she fondly recalls her first sale: a neighbor saw her spinning wool and asked if she could make him a chomba, or jacket. Marta agreed, and then ran back to the house to ask her grandmother for help, as she had never made one before. Marta has never stopped since and finds weaving relaxing and a good way to earn money in between cooking, cleaning, caring for her children, and farming.
All-natural Plant Dyes
including onion, blackberry, moss,
cochinilla cactus insect, mud, and tree leaves
About an hour into our bus-ride, Marta begins pointing out various plots of campo, or farmland, where relatives and friends reside. Marta lives a little further along with her husband, a brother-in-law, and two of her three children. She explains that much has changed since she grew up in these parts. Back then, they had no electricity or public transportation, so every weekend her family would trek the hilly 12 kilometers into town to stock up on staples including sugar, butter, rice, and amenities. Now, Marta and her husband alternate making trips into town various times a week to buy clothing and equipment, visit the bank, and actively participate in community meetings and educational farming workshops.
Carahue, the closest city to Marta's Farm
a 30-minute bus ride away, more here:
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/04/carahue.html
Despite this increased access to outside resources, they still live off of their land, caring for a variety of animals, harvesting produce, and planting wood to sell. New crops have also appeared. For example, about five years ago Marta heard about the health benefits of quinoa, so she asked a neighbor for some seeds to start her own batch. In addition, to exchanging plants, neighbors regularly pop in to say “hi” and share maté, a traditional strong tea, creating sense of community in these parts.
Given the labor-intensive nature of this lifestyle, Marta’s family gathers for 4 meals a day. Farm fresh chicken, eggs, pig, and herbs made their way onto the dining table during my 4-day visit. When eating, conversation is kept to a minimum, as TV predominates attention, and we enjoy the international programming, which ranges from Chilean telenovelas, or dramas, to dubbed Californian Wild West films to Spanish bullfighting.
Process:
Minutes later, when Marta takes a seat next to me, she excitedly pulls out a plastic bag. Look! These are plants I can use to dye wool blue and red. They were gifted from a wood export company’s educational program. The news comes of no surprise. In recent years, various efforts to revive Chile’s cultural roots and arts, especially matters related to the country’s largest indigenous group, the Mapuche, have gained momentum. While groups like La Fundación Chol-Chol have been around for over 30 years and produce traditional articles, such as the Trariwe belt or Manta Cacique, others focus on innovation based on these older methods. One such company, called VOZ, was founded by Stanford graduate Jasmine Aarons in 2009. VOZ runs design workshops with weavers, helping them brainstorm, prototype, and sell their own contemporary fashion articles, ranging from clutch purses to dresses.
Pictures from Education Design Workshops with VOZ
 |
 |
 |
| including onion, blackberry, moss, cochinilla cactus insect, mud, and tree leaves |
About an hour into our bus-ride, Marta begins pointing out various plots of campo, or farmland, where relatives and friends reside. Marta lives a little further along with her husband, a brother-in-law, and two of her three children. She explains that much has changed since she grew up in these parts. Back then, they had no electricity or public transportation, so every weekend her family would trek the hilly 12 kilometers into town to stock up on staples including sugar, butter, rice, and amenities. Now, Marta and her husband alternate making trips into town various times a week to buy clothing and equipment, visit the bank, and actively participate in community meetings and educational farming workshops.
Carahue, the closest city to Marta's Farm
 |
| a 30-minute bus ride away, more here: http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/04/carahue.html |
Wool is Carded from Marta's Sheep
 | ||||||
Other times wool is purchased from factories in Santiago
Washing
Creating a Dark Green Dye
|
 |
Preparing the Loom |
only requires 4 sticks, tied with knots
 |
| the base is secured with a "chain" yarn at the bottom |
 |
| winding yarn into ovillos, or balls |
The Tonón (red) lifts half the strands
Weaving at Last!
Textile can be wrapped around bottom stick, if it gets too long
Other Sights:
In the Kitchen
Sights around the Farm
Marta's Husband next to their Home
 |
Wool Yarn for Sale in Temuco
 |
| Synthetically Dyed |
Labranza, Home of VOZ Headquarters
 |
about 90 minutes in bus from Marta's home |
Goats, Cows, Horses, & Sheep roam around the town's periphery
Labranza's Produce Market
*Related Blog Entries from 2011:
Labranza:
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/04/labranzatoto-ive-got-feeling-were-not.html
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/04/moving-into-casa-voz.html
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/04/vehicles-of-labranza.html
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/05/walk-around-labranza.html
Weaving:
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/05/yarn-behind-scenes.html
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/05/clases-de-tejer.html
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/06/tejidosweavings-3.html
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/06/la-rueca.html
http://chileconkaren.blogspot.com/2011/08/clase-de-tejer.html
Nice blog,, i'm very enjoyed to visit this site. have a nice day :D
ReplyDelete