Two days of Amuzga culture at Saber Fazer

Two days of Amuzga Culture at Saber Fazer

These were two very special days when we received Gabina Valentína, an Amuzga weaver from Xochistlahuaca, and Inês Queirós from the TuYo Foundation (responsible for her coming to Europe), to promote her culture and the backstrap loom weaving technique.

Gabi was only in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Porto during her first European tour, so it was really a privilege to have her here! Unfortunately, Gabi's stay in Porto was short. The main objective of coming to Porto was the Mexican Backstrap Loom Masterclass, which had only 6 places. As we wanted to share her coming here with more people, we chose to have an open class on the Saturday morning before the Masterclass. During this open class, Gabi shared her culture, experiences, works and techniques with those who visited us.

We want to thank everyone who visited us and shared this moment with us, as they made Gabi feel welcome and her work valued and respected.

On Saturday afternoon, we started the Masterclass. Each student was given their own backstrap loom built by Gabi in Mexico. Learning began with assembling the warp on the loom, moving on to introducing the technique of weaving with a backstrap loom and then weaving unique symbologies of the Amuzga culture. Once again, it was a privilege to have Gabi share something so important to her culture with us and she was proud to see the students' work completed.
The yarns used had been handyed by Gabi, which made everything more special.

At Saber Fazer, Gabi left 2 waist looms built by herself, one partially woven by her (!), as well as coloured autochthonous cotton seeds and even one of her supported spindles, which, needless to say, is the best gift that you can offer a spinner. In return, I offered her artisanal linen yarn and silk for her to weave a special Huipil, which I hope is a marriage between the fibres of the two cultures. Cotton of an autochthonous Mexican variety generates as much excitement here at Saber Fazer as the skeins of Linho Galego to Gabi, so we were both delighted!

The time was short, otherwise we would have spent days spinning, weaving and teaching each other things.

Thank you Gabina and Inês! Next year we will be here to welcome you again.

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Important links:
- TuYo Foundation