Woven horsehair jewelry and decorative objects by Cuenco (Chile)

I learned about Cuenco through a friend and I fell in love with their designs and the idea behind them. Cuenco is the brainchild of two young Chilean architects. They work with women artisans in Chile to bring a new look to a traditional horsehair craft known as rari. Together they produce unique and colorful brooches, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other art pieces.

In 2008 they received the UNESCO Excellence Seal for Mercosur, and have been invited to participate in exhibitions in Spain, France, Japan and the United States. The designs of Cuenco are on sale in some museum shops in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and the USA.

I reproduce here the origin of Rari. “Rari is a small, pre-mountainous town near the city of Linares, 305 km. South of Santiago, in Chile, which is the birthplace of a specific form of horsehair weaving craft. This craft originated 200 years ago, when local women, doing laundry in the creeks near their homes, discovered that they could weave poplar roots into small figures. As they developed their weaving technique, they started experimenting with various fibers, thus replacing the roots with horsehair which were more ductile and required less pre-weaving preparation time. Later on, they added the plant fiber Ixtle, brought over from Mexico, which serves a structural function, creating a more voluminous and resistant weaving.

The technique has passed from mother to daughter and remains unchanged until today: the horsehair is washed, and dyed, and then woven by hand into numerous figures.In their traditional pieces, the artisans inspired by their inner female worlds, create delicate and colorful handcrafts to decorate themselves and their domestic world. These qualities and figurative inspiration have been passed on for many years, from grandmothers to daughters and granddaughters, which begin to imitate their elders’ technique in their early childhood.

Their typical motifs reflect elements from the rural world (flowers, butterflies) and others, the imagery of campesinos (local farm workers) such as huasos (traditional Chilean rural character) and witches. Non figurative motifs are rare and generally associated to objects used in everyday life through geometric compositions, such as cup holders and rosaries, and bookmarkers".

Find out more at www.cuenco.cl