textile residency from fiber to fabric

Textile trip to Lago Atitlán, Guatemala, December 2025.

Organised by Kakaw Designs, From Fiber to Fabric covered all the processes involved in the traditional making of textiles by hand in the region of Lago Atitlán in Guatemala.

Growing of organic cotton including the naturally brown ixcaco variety, hand spinning of cotton using a malacate, a traditional spindle, collection of plant dye material, dying with natural dyes—indigo, Mexican sunflower, and cochineal—, designing and hand making warp jaspe patterns, weaving in a backstrap loom.