Hi, my name is Edilma Rosa Pilla and I sell handmade crafts from my native village of Salasaca in Ecuador. My community is an indigenous community that uses the traditional natural production methods that we have used since prior to the Spanish conquest to make crafts for tourists and support our way of life.
I grew up farming and doing traditional handicrafts for our own usage, such as spinning thread and weaving our own clothes. Today, my family continues to farm and weave, and I sell products made by my own family and friends, as well as products made in other indigenous communities in Ecuador.
Salasaca is a small indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Andes, located between the cities of Ambato and Baños, about 3 hours to the south of Quito, the capital. It has about 6000 inhabitants and the primary occupations are agriculture and weaving.
Salasaca is best known for being one of the most traditional indigenous communities in Ecuador. We continue to farm organically for subsistence and wear clothes we ourselves make. We also celebrate our traditional celebrations, such as the summer solstice and the day of the dead.
For us the mountains are great spirits, as we live among them. Volcán Tungurahua for us is a grandmother, and you can see her in our art.
Our Work
To the left are a series of photos that demonstrate the making of the wool tapestries. First, wool is sheared from our sheep, then the women make thread from it, and finally it is woven on wooden looms.
These last photos shown cochinilla, an insect that lives on the cactus which can be squished to produce a dye that varies from a bright red, to purple, to near black.
The next series of photos is about the production of cabuya thread. In the first photo you can see the plant, then you see how rope is made and finally, the backstrap loom it is woven on.
Finally, there are a couple of photographs showing the inspirations for our designs. In one you can see the volcano Tungurahua in its current eruptive phase (note my father's house in the foreground) and in the other you can see our traditional celebrations and how they use the same designs we use in our tapestries. The influence of nature and ritual are what inspires us, as you can see in the above photos of the products we sell.
