Aj Quen, meaning “weaving together” in the Kakchiquel language was founded during Guatemala’s civil war in the 1980’s. Amidst all the violence, many new widows and orphans joined together for solidarity and to help create a stronger business for their crafts. 18 years later, there are now over 1,000 artisan members from 26 different groups across Guatemala. Like World of Good, Aj Quen has two parts to it – a business side that provides marketing, product development, and business skills to the artisans, and a development side which focuses on social development programs to promote health, literacy, and women’s rights.

A-maya-zing Messenger Bag

We are bringing in our first line of products from Aj Quen this fall in the A-Maya-Zing and Weaving Together woven bags. The A-Maya-Zing bags are made from loom-woven fabric, and the Weaving Together bags are a combination of newly woven fabric and recycled Huipiles.

Most of Guatemala’s artisans are from Mayan descent and still maintain a strong sense of this history and tradition in their crafts. The Huipiles (Mayan blouses) are one way that this cultural history is kept alive. Huipiles are the traditional blouses that the Mayan women weave, embroider, and wear – whose distinctive patterns identify which community they are from and tell the story of their ancestors. On my visit to Guatemala last summer I was lucky enough to learn the story behind the colorful clothing that make the villages so distinctive and how they have developed into a whole “recycling program.”

After 4 hours through the green, winding Guatemalan hills, I arrived at Guatemala’s largest artisan market in Chichicastenango – or “Chi-chi” for short. Artisans come here from all over Guatemala to set up their booths for locals, tourists, and foreign buyers. I was led through the winding tents and stalls past rainbows of textiles, beads, and everything else imaginable – into another alleyway vacant of the usual tourist traffic and into a crowded tent. Inside were piles and piles of intricately embroidered and woven huipiles that women come to sell after 5 or 10 years of wear – and where artisan groups like Aj Quen come to buy and transform into new and beautiful bags, pouches, and decorations. As I sorted through the piles I quickly saw that no two are identical – each telling the individual story of the woman who spent months weaving her history and future into the fabric. Each community, I learned, has a distinctive style of huipil that shows each person’s connection to their community, family, and history.

To explain the stories, Juan Jose led me out of this tent and back into the bustling aisles to his sister’s booth (everyone in his family is an artist of their own style). Although her focus is on Mayan astrological paintings, she easily explains all the detail of the Chichicastenango huipiles, with all the detail of a scholarly expert. Each shape has a different and important meaning – the stars and planets represent the brothers and sisters of the universe. The diamond shape is one of the most common shapes – representing the universe as a whole. The zig-zag serpent insightfully shows the ups and downs of emotions that a person experiences in their life. The double zig-zag shows the marriage of two people in a sort of “yin-yang” relationship, balancing and grounding each other through their own ups and downs. The neck hole is outlined with the sun’s rays through which the woman, as the earth – the substance of the world, places her head as the core of the whole system.

Not surprisingly, Juan Jose tells me that like so many traditions, American-style clothing and cheaper pre-made fabrics are finding their way into Guatemala and fading out this time-intensive tradition. However, it’s groups like Aj Quen, who are helping these artisans find a market for their traditional weaving skills which will in turn keep their history and traditions alive. In addition to the woven fabric bags, World of Good is working on developing a line of bags from the recycled huipiles in the next year to show the beauty of this rich tradition.

Download Aj Quen Artian Profile (.pdf 1.1MB)