The Miraflores pillow is made from a vintage silk huipil I bought in a textile market in Panajachel, Guatemala, which is situated on the shores of beautiful Lake Atitlan. I named this pillow after a flower market I frequented often near to my home in the Colonia of Miraflores in Guatemala City. It translates to “look flowers.”  The flowers are masterfully woven almost resembling a painting. The striped handwoven fabric is from the area of Totonicapán which is located in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. 

DETAILS:

• 21” x 21” (53.3 cm x 53.3 cm)

• Front - cotton

• Back -  linen, in turquoise

• Zipper closure

• Polyester pillow insert

• Fabric origin:  Guatemala

THE STORY:

The floral center panel is from a vintage handwoven “huipil,” the traditional dress worn by indigenous  women in Guatemala.  The rich, artful, multi-colored flowers are created using a brocade weaving technique that is woven on a back strap loom using silk floss thread.  This style of huipil is traditionally worn by women from Chichicastenango, Guatemala. 

The side panels are handwoven with varying widths of earth tone stripes highlighted with turquoise, indigo, and gold “jaspe” designs. Jaspe is a technique of binding sections of the warp as a resist before doing the dyeing process. During the seven years that I lived in Guatemala, I developed a great appreciation for jaspe (also known as “ikat” in other parts of the world). It is the traditional technique for creating patterns in Guatemalan fabrics. This fabric is from the area of Totonicipan, located in the Highlands of Guatemala. While driving through the Highlands, it was common to see men laying out yards of warp stretched on poles along the roadside and binding threads in a resist-dye technique to create the pattern.