Chaguar

The chaguar plant is found in the Chaco forest in Argentina. It resembles the yucca, with sword-shaped evergreen leaves growing to roughly 3 feet high. For countless generations, the indigenous Wichi women have mastered the skills needed to obtain the chaguar fiber from its tough leaves.

Six months of each year, these women travel into the forest in small groups to harvest chaguar in the traditional way, with wooden spades or machetes. After the gathering the women prepare the chaguar leaves by cleaning them thoroughly, then drying, spinning and knitting them. The leaves are soaked in water to soften, and pounded until the fibers are exposed, washed and hung on branches to dry. Once dry, the fibers are worked into threads by rubbing them together on the thigh, previously coated with ash to ease the task. These threads are later dyed with natural pigment obtained from forest plants and tree barks, in colors ranging from bright yellow to blue and black.

The dyed fibers are then woven using a needle or simple hand looms and the fruit of their mastery can be seen in the beautiful pieces we carry. Although the women go into the forest together, each gathers only the material she independently needs before returning to spin and knit with the help of other female family members, and it is this way that the skills are passed along and the chaguar economy and tradition remains within each family.