ZENU
Divino Nino Family - Colombia
The weaving of caña flecha, known as the arrowroot palm (Gynerium sagittatum), extends back to the pre-Hispanic Zenu empire. It is a tall grass once abundant throughout tropical South America. Now rare in nature, the Zenu grow the grass in small family plots and use it to create distinctive woven hats, jewelry, fashion accessories, and home décor.
The best-known of their products is "sombrero vueltiao," a traditional black and white hat that is made by hand weaving and sewing strips decorated with traditional symbols. It is the national symbol of Colombia and has been worn by many notable visitors to Colombia. The quality and price are based on the width of the individual fiber strips.
The jewelry and other woven products are a modern innovation but utilize the same traditional fibers, techniques, and symbols. The geometric symbols seen on the hats and hand woven into the bracelets represent animals and patterns that have specific names and include spider, butterfly, tortoise, to name a few and represent specific communities or families.
THE PROCESS
The entire process is carried out by family members of all ages. The long leaves are dried and scraped with a knife to remove the tough inner fibers. The remaining pieces are cooked with other plant ingredients, including a natural bleach, to produce a flexible, creamy white fiber. These long fibers are then cut lengthwise into fine strips and dyed.
Mud mixed with other ingredients create the rich black color seen on many of the products. Other colors are produced from plants that are cultivated or wild harvested nearby. The entire process takes 3 days.
For the hats, the thin strips are woven into braids and sewn together on a pedal sewing machine. The number of pairs sewn together vary from 7, 9, up to 27 creating an increasingly fine, and expensive product. Bracelets are woven over hand-cut PVC pipe, while bags and belts are woven over a more flexible base. Many new products have been designed in the last 5 years.