TRAMA TEXTILES X DITTOHOUSE

In collaboration with Trama Textiles of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, DittoHouse presents the Woven Collaboration collection of textiles. The result of a year and a half of emails and understanding, conversations and collaboration, this explosion of color and pattern celebrates our brilliant humanity, bold and bright. The Trama Textiles x DittoHouse collaboration was facilitated exclusively by communicating in our contemporary digital/remote reality and yet is executed with one of the earliest forms of weaving technology: a backstrap loom. The pieces in this collection are deeply human, as the artisan's body itself created the tension necessary in the warp to create the textile. The textile is only as wide as the artisan could physically pass the weft thread back and forth. She softened a rigid, optical and bold design with her exquisite brocade method. The warmth of the artisanʼs hand makes the rigidity of the bold designs that much more comforting. This collaboration is a culmination of knowledge and effort-- past and present, digital and analog, near and far. Both collaborators are working at their craft in their own homes, far from one another and still very practically linked through the creative process. The result of our collaboration, remarkably, is a digital conversation-- made tangible!

DittoHouseʼs Molly Fitzpatrick: “Iʼm thrilled to partner with Trama Textiles for many reasons: they are the best weavers in the world and dedicated preservationists of their craft and culture, the organization is founded and run by Indigenous women and 100% worker owned-- they are a model of “what could be” in American business-- an organized, empowering, sustainable cooperative. The group is incredibly community-minded, they take care of their members and are intent on improving the outlook of the next generations.

What Trama Textiles models is what I dream of for my business and family-- preserving and respecting the craft that I love, while treating others with respect and compassion. If all businesses operated with the care that Trama Textiles does, the world would be a beautiful place.”

The weavers of each product set the price, minimum quantity order and production lead times, and the products were paid for in full by DittoHouse before production started. Additionally, 50% of the profits of all items in the Woven Collaboration collection will go to Trama Textilesʼ Almaya Fund which aims to provide members of the Trama Textiles cooperative with access to health & welfare services, professional development, and adult & child education, to improve health outcomes and end the cycle of poverty in their communities.

The initial design work and communication of this collaboration was guided and delivered through technology, computers, and the internet and the result was expertly crafted on looms which require a few wooden sticks, threads and most importantly, the weaver’s body to create tension on the warp, fingers to pluck the pattern out of the threads and a brilliant mind to keep the rhythm of the design flowing.  

The design principles of Guatemalan brocade woven textiles were studied and applied to this collaboration. Simple designs can be the hardest to execute and the artisan weavers perfected the simple and bold compositions in their signature techniques. Utilizing warp stripes and brocaded weft stripes, the Grid Pillow Cover design creates a dimensional back and forth. Similarly, in the Ball Tapestries a bold black and white striped warp set up is toned down with a white weft. This striking base sets off exceptionally executed diagonal lines that form a graphic ball which playfully seems to jump off of the stripes. A dueling pattern is created from the negative spaces in between diagonals. The intention of the designs is to be bold enough to engage while the use of familiar stripe pattern offers the viewer a meditative respite.The threads making up the colorful diagonal lines that create circles are long, floating, brocaded weft threads that create tactile, lively lines that truly show the human hand involved. The construction of the tapestry is risky and exciting, it is a nuanced and highly handmade feast for the eyes-- meant to activate the space in an considered way. The Stripe Blanket also has an Op Art quality with bold stripes of brilliant color tethered to black and white stripes. The weaver, Jairo, opted to use a black fill thread that grounds all the colors, bringing the technicolor stripes back to earth.