Lack of retail outlets, the biggest challenge for plant fiber artisans

Angel Vargas

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, May 16, 2025, p. 4

The lack of direct channels for marketing their products is one of the main obstacles facing artisans working with plant fibers in Mexico, followed by the increasing difficulty in obtaining raw materials and their rising prices.

This outlook emerges from a survey conducted by La Jornada among some of the 45 participants in the first National Meeting on Plant Fibers, which opened yesterday at the National Museum of Popular Cultures (MNCP).

For us, raw materials aren't a problem; fortunately, there's plenty of them in the countryside. What's difficult for us is finding a market to sell our products , explains Silvia Gallardo Osorio, from Chigmecatitlán, a municipality in the Mixteca region of Puebla that has become known nationally for its handcrafted miniatures woven from palm.

“We've been invited to exhibitions in Puebla, and we've traveled to other parts of the country through the Ministry of Culture to sell our pieces, but, honestly, it's hard for us to find a space.”

"Can you make a living from this activity?" the artisan, whose family has been dedicated to palm weaving for generations, asks.

−The truth is: we can't live well. We don't have anywhere to sell or distribute; when we do, like right now, well, thank God we do manage to sell well, and that keeps us going for days, weeks. After that, we have to wait for another invitation.

He says a human figurine, which costs between 150 and 300 pesos, requires between four and five hours of work. The smaller it is, the more difficult it is .

Doña Silvia proudly shares how her municipality has gained national renown thanks to the creation of palm miniatures. She explains that currently, 12 families are dedicated to this activity in her community. We are well known for this work. My uncles started this miniature business in the municipality about 40 years ago. They then taught my parents, and they taught me and my siblings. Now, several families make a living from this .

For Pedro Vega, from the community of Villa Progreso, Ezequiel Montes municipality, Querétaro, the issue of sales is also the main obstacle to his artisanal work with maguey fiber, a material he says is easy to obtain in his region.

There are no points of sale in our community and we have to go out and look for things to sell, to market , asserts this popular artist, who is dedicated to making utilitarian household items such as brushes, scouring pads, brooms, exfoliants, tortilla holders and jewelry boxes, as well as figures of virgins, saints and, during the Christmas season, decorative piñatas and nativity scenes.

It's knowledge that comes from generations, I don't know how many; my grandparents and parents were already dedicated to this, with ropes, rope fences, and everything else used in the fields and to tie up animals , he adds. It's a noble job that barely provides enough to get by .

Originally from the community of Calkini, Campeche, Nicolasa Tzeek Uc has been making mats for as long as she can remember: my father died when I was very young, and my mother taught us this, which she had learned from her mother. I was born and raised on a mat. Years went by, I got married, and had my daughters; now I have four grandchildren, and they already know how to make them .

We already advertised on Facebook

As is the case with Patricia Camacho, a craftswoman from Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, who makes ixtle hats used in the traditional Parachicos dance, this elderly master craftswoman is one of the many in Mexico whose work requires her to overcome serious problems in obtaining raw materials and having a direct sales channel for her products.

We have a hard time obtaining the material for the mats (palm, tule, and reeds). There's hardly any left in my community, and we have to get it in Tabasco, but it's not the same; it's coarser, thicker, and wider, and of lower quality. So, we've planted it too, but it doesn't grow as well , he explains.

After explaining that weaving an average mat, measuring 1.20 by 1.80 meters and used for beds , takes at least a week, Doña Nicolasa laments how difficult it is to sell. In recent years, they have even turned to social media.

You have to go out and spread the word; we've already announced it on Facebook, but it's still very complicated , she notes. I don't make a living from this alone; I couldn't. I also make hammocks from woven threads and blouses, and I pray to the Virgin Mary and the dead. I have to look for it in many places to make a living, and so do my children .

The first plant fiber gathering is an initiative of the National Fund for the Promotion of Handicrafts (Fonart), whose purpose is to learn about the situation of artisans dedicated to making products with reeds, palm, ixtle, and jipijapa, as well as their techniques.

We want to hear directly from the masters what their status is, what is being lost, what remains, whether in objects, techniques or raw materials, so that we have an x-ray of what is happening in the country (in this artisanal aspect) , explains Elena Vázquez, head of the office of the Operation and Comprehensive Handicraft Projects Directorate of Fonart, who, among other topics, warns about how plastic has replaced some of these objects in several communities.

As part of the Original Mexico program, the first National Plant Fibers Meeting will continue its activities and sales until May 18, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the venue at 289 Hidalgo Avenue, Downtown Coyoacán, with free admission.