Weaving Communities in Honduras

WEAVING COMMUNITIES IN HONDURAS

Communities Mezapitaa and El Carbon // Madera Verde //

+ Students at Parsons School of Design

Initial social media graphics. Photos + graphics by Christine.

PROJECT INTRO

In 2021 I met Scott Landis through our mutual friend Scott Francisco. Trained in woodworking, Landis - through his non-profit GreenWood Global - has over the past three decades been working with rural communities in Honduras, teaching artisan woodworkers to produce high-quality products from well-managed forests and helps connect their products to good markets. GreenWood promotes appropriate woodworking technology and the efficient use of lesser-known and lower-value tree species, waste wood and non-timber forest products.

Scott also founded the Woodworkers Alliance for Rainforest Protection (WARP), which inspired the certification movement and led to the establishment of the Forest Stewardship Council.

In May 2023, Scott and I traveled to Honduras for a prospecting trip with Madera Verde — a project initially founded by Scott and now run by Honduran foresters — to explore the possibility of connecting Parsons design-students with the communities he had been working with. The trip's objective was to understand the harvesting and processing of fibers used by the communities, identify challenges and opportunities for current and potential products, and develop design strategies to strengthen sales and expand market access.

We met with two communities, one in Mezapita who primarily weave with an endemic type of wicker called Monstera maderaverde, and the second community - an Indigenous Pech community - who weave with Majao, or Heliocarpus americanus (the inner bark of young trees are processed into fiber).

The community of El Carbón is currently trying to maintain the health and integrity of its forested landscape as a means of supporting local livelihoods and preserving Pech culture.

But the lack of governance and law enforcement in Honduras leaves many communities to fend for themselves against illegal invasions - ‘land-grabbers’ who are continuously converting sections of their ancestral forests into cattle ranches.

With support from FMV, GreenWood and the US Forest Service International Programs, the community received initial training in drone surveillance. The tribal leadership recently received a drone donation from ASICAFOC, which they are employing to monitor their territory. A local fire committee also protects the community, as forest fires have become more common due to climate change.

There is significant local interest in reforestation, and there are at least two tree nurseries in the community. We visited one nursery on the campus of the INFOP/CEFEDH trade school, where cultivated tree species currently include: Liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflua), Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata), Caoba (Swietenia spp.) and Majao (Heliocarpus americanus). Guamileros and other community members may acquire free trees from the school nursery.

Below is a detailed description of the communities, their current products and capacities.

Written by Scott Landis and Christine Facella

Project updates:

Potential partnership with CLUSA to sponsor two designers to head down to the communities during spring/summer of 2025; Parsons design student competition, spring 2025.

DETAILED PRODUCT, MATERIAL PROCESSING & COMMUNITY INFORMATION:
MEZEPITA, ATLANTIDA

From left to right: Juanita Santiago López and Reyna Isabel Santiago weaving their basket and lampshade; Núncio López with a finished sombrero; small woven stool woven by Núncio; hat in process using a 'hat mold' carved by Núncio.

Primary Material:

Mimbre (Monstera maderaverde)

Artisan Information:

Artisans range from 30 to 60-plus years of age. Nine family members—four women and five men—currently weave Mimbre in Mezapita. Some have been actively weaving for about 25 years, but the younger generation appears uninterested.

Anunciación (Núncio) López:

Sombreros

Juanita Santiago López:

Basket, sculptural items such as birds.

Reyna Isabel Santiago:

Sculptural elements, including lampshade (around frame), and 'freestyle' shapes.

Maria Clara López:

Lidded container. Has

been weaving for 20+

years.

Current Products:

Mezapita artisans mainly produce Mimbre hats and baskets, but the weavers we met have experimented with several other products, including shoes. They are all highly skilled and can likely produce almost any shape required. Reyna once wove a pig sculpture and Juanita wove a small bird with a sombrero during our meeting. Reyna improvised a complicated lamp design, based on a printed photograph we shared with the group. They also use Mimbre to repair furniture, much of it replacing the aging Capulin tree bark used in FMV’s older inventory of chairs, stools and tables.

From left to right: Reyna Isabel Santiago 'free-styling' a lampshade; Núncio López showing hat mold and hat; Reyna Isabel Santiago weaving around a metal frame (lampshade); basket with decorative edge finish; Heart-shaped lidded basket with bird sculpture (by Juanita Santiago Lopez).

Collecting & Processing Mimbre:

Mimbre is harvested at an altitude of approximately 1,150 meters (3,700 feet) in the humid rainforest of the Cordillera Nombre de Dios, which rises above the community. The vines are collected by the artisans themselves, or purchased from other community members at a price of about 50 Lempiras (+/- $2 USD) per pound. They are harvested in a forested area that is now restricted, due to the recent installation of the Jilamito Hydroelectric project, whose construction was hotly contested by local groups. Community members are permitted to enter the forest via an access road to the dam, preferably with permission from the president of the community cooperative, to which the Mezapita weavers belong.

The forest area we visited is one of the closest Mimbre harvest sites accessible to the community. It is reached via a 45-minute drive up a steep dirt road, followed on foot for another 30–45 minutes along an even steeper forest path.

The Mimbre vines comprise the long, dangling roots—approximately 8-15 feet long—of an epiphytic liana that thrives in the canopy of host trees. The thickest roots are selected for harvest, leaving the thinner strands to grow. The collector gathers a handful of Mimbre roots at the base of the tree and pulls hard to release, or break, the strands above.

When enough vines have thus been collected, they are processed efficiently in the field, adjacent to the harvest site. The outer sheath, or husk, is stripped from the solid inner “cord” by first crushing one end to expose about 10-12 inches of cord. This is accomplished by wedging and pulling each harvested vine between two pieces of rebar, which have been tied together in a narrow “V” and secured in the top of a stump. The rest of each vine is then pulled through the rebar, quickly stripping the remaining husk.

To prepare the Mimbre for weaving, it is dipped in water for about 30 seconds, ensuring the strands will not break. It is wetted again, as needed, to maintain flexibility throughout the weaving process. Once an item is woven it is typically dipped in a chlorine bleach solution for about ten minutes to achieve a uniform white color.

Sombreros are woven over a Mahogany mold, handmade by the artisans. The hat designs are said to have originated in Tela, a neighboring tourist destination on the coast. It takes about half a pound of Mimbre to weave one hat in about two hours. A large tabletop takes about two days to weave; smaller tables about a day.

From left to right: Scott climbing steep path to collection area; Nuncio grasping strands of Mimbre; Processing Mimbre through two pieces of rebar, by pulling the strands through which separates the soft inside from the fibrous outside; Mimbre, ready to weave.

Production Volume & Sales:

Núncio is able to weave about ten sombreros in a weekend if he has no other work or other commitments. It might otherwise take him 1-2 weeks to produce the same number if he’s only weaving in the evenings. He wove a large hat in about 2-3 hours during our visit. We were told that some hats are distributed in Tela and La Ceiba, where they are sold to the public. But very little is known about the total volume or final sales destinations of Mimbre hats and other products.

Sample “Wholesale” Prices:

Mimbre costs = 50 Lempiras (+/- $2 USD) per pound

Large woven basket (12” x 18”) = 200 Lempiras (+/- $8 USD)

Adult sombrero = 150 Lempiras (+/- $6 USD)

DETAILED PRODUCT, MATERIAL PROCESSING & COMMUNITY INFORMATION:
SANTA MARIA DEL CARBON , OLANCHO

From left to right: Geyser's workshop; Micayla López weaving strips of Majao fiber, that eventually are connected to become a larger surface (for a bag); Majao fiber; First row finished.

Primary Material:

Inner bark of Majao (Heliocarpus americanus) and Capulin negro (Prunus serotina) trees.

Artisan Information:

Kataha is the name of the Pech weaving group. It consists of about 15 members, all women, who are interested in developing additional products to the mats, hats, bags and bracelets they currently produce.

Micayla López:

Rectangular bag.

María Ercilia López:

Woveround mat and has been weaving for about 20 years)

Adriana Castillo:

Wove bracelets.

Celin Moradero:A qualified weaver who was unable to participate in our meeting

Community Information:

There are about 1,600 inhabitants in El Carbón, approximately 70 percent indigenous Pech and 30 percent Mestizo. The Pech language is taught in three of the community’s elementary schools, but we were told that few young people are interested in speaking Pech at home.

The community occupies a total area of 1,523 hectares—about 56 percent pasture and 40 percent mixed humid and secondary forest. The forested area is divided into 25 guamiles, or silvopastoral plots, managed by individual guamileros. These include some timber and fruit trees, mainly yielding produce and limited timber for personal or local consumption.

Current Products:

The inner bark of several local tree species is used to produce a variety of artisan products in El Carbón. Capulin negro bark has been used to weave the seats and backs of chairs, stools and tabletops for at least 30 years. This species is also incorporated in baskets and other woven products. It is strong and can last for many years after it has been fully dried.

Majao is used in a wide range of baskets, table mats, bags and purses, hats and bracelets. It is highly fibrous and, unlike the Mimbre used in Mezapita, it must be twisted or braided in a time-consuming weaving process. Hats incorporate a metal frame at the rim, and some hanging fruit baskets also employ a thick interior vine. Other products include hammocks made from Chumeco, which is thicker and stronger than Majao.

Several different seeds were incorporated in the bracelets and other woven products we saw. These derive from the Guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) tree and the so-called “lágrima” seed from the San Pedro cactus (Coix lachryma-jobi), to which is also attributed a range of medicinal properties.

From left to right: Fruit basket; Keychains; Round Mat; Detail of rectangular bag; Bracelets.

Collecting and processing Capulin and Majao:

Capulin can be found in nearby village forests, while Majao grows at higher elevations, about two-hours walking distance from the community center. The Majao is a fast-growing, pioneer tree species, able to grow several meters in height annually. It often sprouts after a fire, as its seeds remain viable even after the organic material in the forest has been consumed. Young trees are typically harvested for their bark after only one or two years.

Dyeing Majao:

The Majao fiber is heated when dyeing. Colors are produced from the following natural sources:

· Nanche (Byrsonima crassifolia) flowers = brown

· Yuca (Manihot esculenta) = yellow

· Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) fresh bark = brown

A species of local oak is also used to produce dark dyes, and another tree bark collected from Mosquitia is used to produce a yellow dye. The source material for these dyes is typically boiled for 1-2 hours, before Majao fibers are submerged in the pigment. Lemon and salt are used as a mordant to fix the color. (Note: Metal buckets are avoided, as they tend to oxidize and darken the colorant.)

Production Volume & Sales:

A 9” x 11” bag takes about 12-15 hours to weave in about two weeks, as the women only do this work during their spare time. Kataha weavers sell their products mainly through fairs coordinated by FMV or directly to individual customers, which we’re told is somewhat easier in El Carbón than in Mezapita, as the community is located on a recently paved main thoroughfare.

Sample “Wholesale” Prices:

Majao costs = 250 Lempiras (+/- $10 USD) per pound

Bracelets and key chains = 50 Lempiras (+/- $2 USD)

Bags (8” x 8” to 14” x 14”) = 200 - 500 Lempiras (+/- $8 - $20 USD)

ADDITIONAL COLLABORATIVE OPPORTUNITIES:
INFOP/CEFEDH TRADE SCHOOL

From left to right, Trade school scenes: Lower level; Woodshop tools; Stacks of prepared wood; Upper level auditorium.

Trade school information:

In 1993, GreenWood held its first chairmaking workshops at the INFOP/CEFEDH trade school in El Carbón, a community without electricity. Students learned hand-tool woodworking using local materials and traditional methods, crafting chairs from split wood shaped with drawknives or foot-powered lathes. In this process, relatively wetter chair legs were joined to drier stretchers and rungs. Constructed properly, the legs contract and the stretchers expand through their natural “hygroscopic” exchange of moisture, creating a tight joint with little or no use of glue. The finished frames were covered with an integrated seat and back, woven from the inner bark of the Capulin negro tree.

GreenWood continued training students in Windsor chairmaking and other furniture, including stools and chairs sold locally and exported to the US. Omar Betanzo, a former student, is now an instructor, and many others still make chairs for local markets.

According to the school director, Rolando Padilla, the school has 32 students, aged 12 to 20, down from 136 pre-COVID. Students stay in residence for two weeks at a time, focusing on trades like electrical wiring, woodworking, or welding, for boys, or cosmetology for girls, or combining these with academics for university preparation.

Omar’s trainee, Geyser Escobar, produces tool handles for firestarter kits using an electric lathe. Since the community gained electricity five years ago, many traditional woodworking skills are no longer in use. Geyser earns a competitive income by making about ten handles a day, but frequent power outages, common across northern Honduras, disrupt production and create dependence on an unreliable grid.

With FMV’s support, the school plans to build a solar kiln with the Pech tribal council and local woodworkers. This would enable them to dry wood for sale or local use, and GreenWood recommends adding a portable sawmill and shed to protect the wood. This setup could provide a steady wood supply for INFOP students and FMV artisans producing furniture and export products.

GreenWood also ran boatbuilding workshops and managed Bigleaf mahogany harvesting from 2005-2020 in the Río Plátano Biosphere. They exported 36 containers of guitar wood, supporting sustainable forestry and generating $1.75 million in sales. However, illegal activities like gold mining have halted all forest management since 2020.

From left to right: Rolando Padilla in the trade school's nursery; Students in the Agricultural program; the Computer classroom; Omar with his student, Geyser Escobar (yellow t-shirt); Fire-starters to be shipped off to outlet in Canada.

FMV artisans are now producing carving mallets, keychains, and firestarter handles from lesser-known wood species, generating $30,000 in sales. This income is 65% higher than local wages, but a lack of kiln-dried wood limits production—something the new solar kiln could help address.

Nontimber forest products, like woven fiber goods, are sold at local markets, with FMV acting as a middleman for artisans without selling licenses. Monthly street fairs offer exposure and potential orders.

SUMMARY: CHALLENGES

● Some community members do not read or write, limiting opportunities for instruction.

● Many tropical hardwoods are dense and difficult to dry. More research and experience are needed to establish appropriate drying times and procedures, especially for unfamiliar wood species and the thick (3” to 4”) stock required for carving mallets and similar products.

● Tropical hardwoods can be hard to bend, due to their density and high mineral content.

● None of FMV’s community partners have active management plans for the plant materials they currently use. These plans are costly and can take years to renew. Thus the products they make fall into a gray zone between legal and illegal, especially complicating export options.

● Current artisan capacity is limited to “cottage scale” production. There are only about 10 to 15 active weavers of Mimbre and Majao products in each community, and they mainly weave during their spare time. Younger generations have not shown much interest in acquiring these skills.

● The Mimbre and Majao are collected mainly by men and relatively far from their respective communities. Recent fires have begun to affect the quality and accessibility of these traditional materials and the trees on which they grow. Capulin bark might be more suitable to use in combination with wood products, at least in El Carbón.

● Majao is far more time consuming to harvest, process and weave than Mimbre, and it is highly irregular in its texture. These factors may place it at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace.

● As many remote communities have recently received access to electricity, traditional hand-tool woodworking techniques have languished. This creates a dependency on an unreliable power grid and a need for greater access to the capital required to obtain and operate more expensive equipment.

● A pervasive lack of governance is endemic in the forestry sector of Honduras, undermining all efforts to maintain legal and sustainable forest management. It is also effectively supplanted by increased bureaucracy, which leads to unsupportable delays and costs, especially for individual artisans and relatively small community-based forest enterprises.

● There is little collected data on artisan production and sales volumes, market outlets or contacts for nontimber forest products, such as Mimbre and Majao, originating in Mezapita and El Carbón.