Ancestral Artisanry:
A push for preservation of indigenous craftwork
By: Leila Beem Núñez,
Elayne Smith
Photos: Hanna Curlette, Collin Curry, Elayne Smith
Fuchsia and turquoise horsehair earrings hang in the corner. Ceremonial tapestries, earth-tonedand intricate, are displayed on the wall. Red clay bowls, decorated with black and whitemarkings, line the counter. Sturdy ponchos woven from alpaca fleece adorn mannequins in theback of the room.
These are among the many goods displayed in Tienda Ona, a small, unassuming shop in theBarrio Lastarria neighborhood of Santiago, Chile. The store, opened twelve years ago, wasnamed for the nomadic Ona, or Selk’nam people of the Patagonian region, the last ethnic groupto become extinct in Chile. Tienda Ona sells only traditional indigenous crafts, and in doing so,seeks to keep such art and customs alive.
Karla Villarroel has worked at Tienda Ona for six years, working the store and traveling thecountry to help find new artisans to showcase.
"It is very important to us to help them reach their potential, and to help them keep doing theirwork," Villarroel says. “Our purpose is to conserve our traditional craftwork, the kind of craftworkthat gives identity to the country it is found in."
Karla Villarroel has worked at Tienda Ona for six years. She works the register in thestore but also travels around Chile to help pick art and develop relationship with artisans.
Currently, about 150 artisans are represented in the store on rotation. The artisans are from a variety of indigenous cultures from around Chile including the Aymará and the Diaguita in the North and the Mapuche in the South.
The term Mapuche refers to the largest indigenous ethnicity shared by various groups of people with similar cultures and languages. There are about 1.6 million Mapuche individuals in Chile according to the CIA World Factbook’s data from 2015. Their agricultural communities aremostly in the south-central region of Chile. The ethnic group makes up 82 percent of Chile’s
indigenous population and 9.1 percent of its total population according to the CIA’s WorldFactbook.
Tienda Ona’s representation of indigenous cultures in Santiago is designed to not only promote the cultures and educate tourists, but to encourage artisans to keep creating crafts as their ancestors have done. Tienda Ona works as a private foundation so unlike some government-funded foundations, they don’t need to answer to the state but can focus on supporting the artists.
“Our work is always very tied to conserving traditional Latin American craftwork, from all different indigenous and ethnic groups,” Villarroel says. “[Traditional craftwork] is being lost at a rapid rate. Most artisans are older; young people don’t have the desire to keep that work going, so we have to support them so that they become interested in it, and so that they are properly compensated for it.”
All artists set their own price for their work. Villarroel explained that this goes along with their fair business practices and transparency the store operates by. If someone comes in wanting to know more about a certain artisan, the store gives him or her that information because it’s not just about selling products but supporting a network.
​ Amara jewelry is displayed in Tienda Ona. Amara jewelry and crafts are characterizedby the bright artificial dyes they use to color their crafts.
Most work is done miles away from Santiago in rural parts of the country where indigenous communities still thrive. In order to find new artisans to work with, Tienda Ona works with the government agency INDAP (Instituto de Agropecuario, through the Ministry of Agriculture). For some communities, such as the Mapuche, there are a variety of foundations working together to support artisans and showcase their work.
“Such foundations are usually very collaborative,” Villarroel says. “We don’t try to keep artisans all to ourselves. We try to promote artisans in every way that we can, together.”
Part of their job, she says, is to help educate people on how the pieces are made so they understand the prices. Villarroel says that customers sometimes complain about the prices of the work, causing artisans to ask for lower prices than they deserve. One of the Mapucheponchos, for example, takes two months to make because the process goes from getting wool from the animal up until the garment is actually finished.
"People don’t know how long it takes to make things like that,” Villarroel says. “Each artisan does what he or she does with lots of care. They truly love what they do. They aren’t trying to be millionaires; they just want to make a living doing what they learned to do when they were children.”
Amara Alpaca scarves hang in Tienda Ona. They are distinguished by their bright colors.
Mapuche textiles hang by the checkout counter in Tienda Ona. The Mapuche’s work isdistinguished by their use of geometric patterns and natural dyes.
Woodwork sells the most in the store followed by textiles, such as alpaca pieces. Moredecorative pieces like artisan bowls and plates don’t sell as well because of their impracticalnature. Villarroel says that it’s essential to maintain the integrity of this art and the goods thatare produced, alluding to the fact that often at craft festivals, like the one in Cerro Santa Luciajust in front of Tienda Ona, vendors pass imported items as original, indigenous goods.
Carlos Vascul Fernández, a Santiago artisan with Mapuche heritage, also works making craftsin traditional Mapuche style. Like Tienda Ona workers, it is important to Fernández to travelaround the country, meeting other artisans more well-versed in the trade, in order to producethe most authentic items possible. Among the goods he sells are ‘tupus,’ finely made silverbroaches traditionally worn by women to secure dresses and cloaks. Fernández, whose wife is Mapuche, said the culture’s art, like that of other indigenous groups in Chile, is distinctive andworthy of preserving.
Jewelry mimicking the pre-Columbian style is displayed below the check-out counterin Tienda Ona.
“Mapuche jewelry items like this can never be repeated because they each have their own meaning, and each is made by the hand of an artisan,” Fernández said, pointing to his goods.“Every form is different. It is a very unique art, a very rich art, and it still endures today.”
Across Chile, there is a growing demand for such traditional crafts. Kevin Henriquez, a native of Valparaiso, said he sees a returning demand among newer generations for traditional goods like Mapuche crafts.
“People are wanting that again,” Henriquez said. “People want things from here, the traditional, what is ours.”