- Craftsmanship
- Designer
Making beautiful objects from the Tetera and Chocolatillo palm fibres is a centuries-old skill that the women of the indigenous Eperaara Siapidaara people have mastered. Their communities live in Colombia's lush Guapi region, which stretches along the Pacific coast of Colombia. An elaborate tenday process transforms the palm leaves into fibres: the young palm only two leaves can have grown is extracted from the ground, and roots, stem, and leaves are separated. Craftspeople then peel the stem with a knife and let the strips dry in the shade. In the next step, they roll bottles over the stems to flatten them and to extract the pulp. Then, the stalk is cut vertically, the remaining pulp carved out, and five to ten centimetre long strings are removed
Since opening her studio in 2013, she has been driven by her interest in craft techniques. Using yarns, colours, patterns and fabrics, she pushes the boundaries of textile production to adapt old methods for modern life.This approach is the reason why the collaboration with ames was so fruitful. Mae got to know the incredible talent of the Colombian craftspeople, who use materials that are rarely used in rugs, for example, the fibres of the fique plant. And because the entire production relies on manual labour, all the fine details in Mae's design come across beautifully in the final product.Mae Engelgeer's works combine subtle colour palettes, patterns and linear elements. Complex compositions are brought to perfection and give rise to new harmonies.
