This project has been a few years on the making. I have been making some handbags with exclusive leather processes that can only be found in my community. I sourced leather with my mother and developed th concepts in house at our Miami Atelier House of Dreamers. TCD Fashion line is a project created with The Color Dreamers in Miami.
To truly represent the beauty of our cultures and landscape i knew I had to take journey to one of our most sacred sites, Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. So I called up my good friend who is an amazing artist Natalia Molina.
When we arrived, the air instantly felt different. I knew I was home and that I had missed it in my subconscious for way to long. We took a 3 hour drive to the lake and stayed at Casa Palopo near Santa Catarina. They greeted us with cacao and a delicious lime drink which I don’t recall what it was. The next day we got to business. We work up early and began the photoshoot. The glorious volcanoes that barricaded the lake changed colors through the day as the clouds and light moved across them. It was the most beautiful place I had ever been to in my life. I phoned call with my mother letting her know I was alright and she reminded me that we lived in Amatitlan, Guatemala for a short time in my youth and that it was were I had fallen down a spiral staircase while clutching a big teddy bear. She said the impact had left me mute for a couple of weeks but I eventually recovered. The story made me laugh as I had taken one of my photos in front of the spiral staircase that lead to the pool area of our hotel.
We visited the town of Santa Catarina and bought a few clothing items from the Kaqchikel Maya people who still spoke their languages as they explained the process of how the textiles were made. “A weaver spends months makin one piece, she tailors in her happiness and pain, it is an expression of her emotions” explained the short statured lady at the shop we bought most our pieces from. The art on the walls of the town reflected the weavers patterns, an array of landscapes, animals and mysterious iconography.
After a couple of days at Lake Atitlan we made our journey over to the colonial city of Antigua for the second part of our shoot at San Jose Cathedral. An old cathedral that had been ravaged by an earthquake in 1773 leaving it in ruins and had only been partially rebuilt. Known for its impressive, ruined baroque arches and a preserved underground crypt, the site sits directly behind the reconstructed 19th-century facade.
The next day, was dedicated to Jade. A beautiful stone whose luminous qualities had been regarded as having a high value to our ancestors in Mesoamerica. The jade network in Mesoamerica stretchied from central Mexico (Olmec heartlands, Maya Lowlands, Valley of Mexico) southward to Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Jade was the most precious material in Mesoamerica, prized above gold for its association with life, water, and corn. Primarily sourced from the Motagua River Valley in Guatemala, jadeite was traded over 1,500 kilometers to major cultures like the Olmec, Maya, and Aztecs. So we took a tour of the Jade museum where we carved our own jade pieces. My most prized color was the lilac and blue jade, pieces which I will showcase with the next collection.
