Bolivia 72% Dark

The Bolivian culture carries a deep reverence for weaving, an art-form shaped so profoundly by the richness and diversity of its tradition and passed from the hands of one generation to the next. The presence of the creator’s hand can be found in every part of the weaving process—each phase is exquisite and laborious in its own way, as fibers are gathered, spun, dyed, woven, and formed into sensuous aesthetic textiles. In the communities that extend along the Bolivian Andes, weaving begins with the shearing of sheep, llamas, or alpacas for their wool. It then goes to the phari stage, an initial spinning process during which the sheared wool is spun into yarn. The spun yarn is treated to a highly-elaborate dyeing technique—the dyes used are those of the natural world, derived from flowers, leaves, tree-bark, insects, even mud and macerated fruit, with the master-weaver using the utmost care to extract pigments that will render the colors needed for a textile’s design. After dyeing, the