A Guatemalan textile glossary created by our friends at Casa Flor Designs. As cultural mediators, they help artisans and designers understand each other, show mutual respect and work together with clarity. This glossary is meant to be a resource to better understand the complexities of Guatemalan textiles: the tools and processes required to make them, the parts that comprise them, and how to speak about them appropriately and with respect.

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.