Chile, Artesanías de Chile Foundation, Traditional Brocade Blanket

MEASUREMENTS 220 cm x 170 cm

MATERIALS Sheep wool. Carpet base is natural / Brocado stripes are chemically dyed with aniline.

Wool-hair knot technique, weaved in Vertical loom (called "Quelgo", in local language).

This checkered blanket with brocade frames was made by Taller Artesanal Chaica (Chaica Handcraft Workshop), one of a bunch of the traditional weavers group located in Seno del Reloncaví (Reloncaví Bosom), where Carretera Austral and Patagonia starts, in the extreme south of Chile, in front of Chiloé Island and its archipielago.
This blanket it is one of the textile pieces selected by Artesanías de Chile (Crafts of Chile Foundation) for 2020 Selvedege World Fair, as an example of the heritage spread from Chiloé, the archipielago that amazes with its singularities and cultural wealth.
Seno del Reloncaví is a rural zone that was isolated for hundred of years, until men from Chiloé -the big island located in front- started travelling to this place to work in the alerce forests. They were moved by the european colonization who started demanding wood to build their houses in the region. With chilote men came their wifes, who took with them the textile heritage from Chiloé.
As in Chilote houses, in Seno del Reloncaví textiles were woven in “kelgwos” or “quelgo”, as they call a large horizontal loom built inhome, usualy in their living room.
But this zone was tough: hardly women coud raise sheeps to have their own wool. They used to travel far away, by boat, to buy their material. That's why a lot of weavers decided to leave their looms years ago.
Only when Artesanías de Chile Foundation started working in the zone in 2002, women weavers from Seno del Reloncaví (also called "Carretera Austral weavers") started working again in their kelgwos. Most of them mother and daughters who wanted to weave traditional pieces again.
The most traditional blanket in Seno del Reloncaví was the "flowered blanket" or "brocado blanket", similar to one very traditional from Chiloé, but which in this place has the singularity of being weaved with checkered desing, with brocado stripes or frames always in the middle of white squares.
Fundación Artesanías de Chile (Crafts of Chile Foundation) is a private non-profit entity who works to preserve Chilean cultural identity and create opportunities for traditional artisans, especially in rural locations.
Certified by World Fair Trade Organization (WTFO), we work with a network of artisans made up of 2.300 men and women from all over the country, repositories of cultural heritage of our country, imprint in each of their pieces. An important group of them lives in Chiloé Island.

It takes up to 1 month to make an item like this.

Available to ship 3 months after purchase.