Katyi Ya’a is an artisan collective in San Juan Colorado, Oaxaca, that preserves Mixtec cultural heritage by creating textiles from native, rain-fed cotton, using traditional methods like hand-spinning with drop spindles and weaving on backstrap looms. This cotton, grown without chemicals by local farmers, supports agroecological practices and sustains a deep connection between land, craft, and community through labor-intensive, skillful processes from seed removal to intricate brocade weaving.

On the coast of Oaxaca you can find wild cotton plants, which have been growing freely for more than 10,000 years and heirloom cotton plants which have been continuously cultivated in the region for more than 4,000 years. Here, we share more about the cooperatives responsible for stewarding the land and working with the fiber.