Brand: Washein

Claudia Patricia Henríquez Iguarán founded Washein to introduce the world to the beautiful craft of the indigenous Wayuu community in Colombia. The Washein collection consists of hats and bags made of Mawisa palm straw, hand-woven with care by the Wayuu community. Since 2012, Claudia has been working in a hospital in Colombia, where she often visited the indigenous communities and was already enchanted by their ancient wisdom. She wanted to put this knowledge into practice. In addition, she discovered that after the first phase of treatment, many patients with tuberculosis were looking for a way to be productive to support their families. That's how Claudia started the "Weaving to Heal" project. Claudia founded Washein in 2017 and worked with a community at Serrania de la Macuira. She wanted to help this community with the sale of their handmade products and taught them through a cost analysis what a fair price for the work and the products would look like. Every Washein product is 100% handmade and hand-painted with care by the Wayuu communities with which Claudia has had a band since childhood. There is a lot of respect for the talent and techniques of the artisans and every product is appreciated. The pompons are woven by a group of Waayu women from another community who live in Riohacha.