Juan de Dios

 

"...It is very difficult, in these times, to defend our culture, we are forgetting where we come from and who we are, Argentine handicrafts are part of our history like the gauchos and our flag (smiles)..."

My name is JUAN DE DIOS,… the wool of my garments is from Rinconada, it is very difficult to get good fiber, for that you have to have many of your own animals, and I already have a few left...

I learned everything I do by watching my old dad, he made llama wool blankets to get through the cold and to barter. At that time my old dad had many llamas, some were left for us for the winter and the others we took to festivals in places and towns to barter for other things, before everything was like that...

What you had left over, someone else lacked and vice versa... see if we now understood that with what you have left over you can do good to someone. 

As a child I learned to weave on a loom to exchange clothes for corn and later I realized that I could sell them and buy other things, so I set up my own workshop.

Later, mining arrived and I went to work, a big crisis came in 2001 and I had to go back to my workshop and take the wool again.

Do you know why we are always in crisis? (smiles) we always do the same (laughter). 

At that time I wanted to perfect myself so I began to borrow money and buy tools, 70 kg of good wool, I made 2 looms and started, after 5 months I returned everything they had lent me and they called me from many fairs to exhibit my ponchos and blankets, I think because I am very neat in knitting.

My children help me to sell but it is very difficult for young people nowadays to learn these techniques, there are many days of weaving and they get bored.

I put a lot of love into everything, I am very detailed, I hope you like what I do.

In each garment there is a little bit of my story…”.