Handcrafted home decor accents from dried calabash gourd
Guatemala
"We have big dreams and hope people everywhere can see our work. We hope you'll open your homes to our art."
Born in Baja Verapaz, artisan couple Fernando and Lidia are known for their hard work, perseverance, and their love for their art. They work with the morro calabash gourd.
"My parents worked with gourds and this is how I learned to prepare the materials, but it wasn't until I married Fernando that I learned more about this art. His family also worked with morro calabash. When we were at his house, his mom would be working and I wanted to watch her. I liked the sound that the gourds make when they're being carved. So Fernando, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law taught me how to carve the dried calabashes and today, I'm teaching my daughters.
"Since then, our art has been beautiful experience, although difficult at times. We have our own small workshop, where we have to divide our time between working and taking care of our children. It's a job we love and, when we're working together, we connect in an incredible way and the time flies by. We make a great team that's gotten better over the years. Our communication is better and it's wonderful to be able to create a good future for our daughters.
"Our lives haven't been easy. I had to work from a young age because I wasn't able to stay in school. Fernando lost his parents. This was a difficult time but together we were able to overcome it.
"We have big dreams and hope people everywhere can see our work. We hope you'll open your homes to our art. We also look forward to growing as a family. We want our bond to grow stronger and we are sure that by working hard, we can achieve this."
