Currently, this website is not being updated. I will not likely return to operating textile tours again until late 2022, as I work predominantly with artisan communities that do not have easy access to Covid-19 vaccines. If you are a passionate creative solopreneur I invite you to see my  Creative Mindset & Business Coaching Website here. Thank you for your support and understanding at this challenging time. Donna x The post Important announcement appeared first on Haute Culture Textile Tours ..read more

Hi Team! My incredibly lovely and supportive Haute Culture Community! It’s been a long old time since I’ve done this, and it feels great, and strange, and exciting, to be finally getting back to blogging. I’m sorry it’s been so long, but as we all know, things somewhat hit the fan over the last six months. After a period of serious and considered change, I finally feel like it’s time to reach out to you all about what I’ve been doing and how Haute Culture will be growing in the future. From the top! When cases of Covid-19 started to rapidly spread around the world, I was in Guatemala making th ..read more

Standing out against the majestic backdrop of the Peruvian Andes, the rainbow of colours displayed on the different Andean traditional dress is more than striking enough to inspire the runways of Paris (Coughs: #GiveCredit.). The Sacred Valley is home to numerous indigenous communities each with their own textile techniques, colour palette and designs composed of eye-catching colour combinations, motifs, and skilful craft compositions. The textile traditions are centuries-old and integral in preserving and communicating culture to future generations. Here are 10 of our favourite outfits ..read more

Frida Kahlo has become a pop-culture sensation. She’s our personal favourite artist and cultural fashion heroine, and her ubiquitousness can be attributed to the iconic frame of her face: unibrow, red lips and abundant flowers piled up onto the crown of her head. Frida used flowers to bring life to her paintings and wore them as symbols of Mexican nationalism, feminism and fertility. Here’s Haute Culture’s guide to crafting your own Frida Flower Crown headband so you can channel that inner Frida flora-power. Click here to read all about our annual Mexico: Frida, Fabrics, Folk Art a ..read more

You never quite know what wonderful thing is going to happen on tour. Whilst visiting Chiang Dao on our Thailand: Hill Tribe Textile Tour in 2019 we were lucky enough to be invited to an intimate Dara Ang wedding ceremony. Ly, the bride, is the daughter of Pacam, one of the women we work most closely with through our projects with the Dara Ang cooperative. I first met Ly in 2015 on a visit to her family’s village at the foothills of the mountains of Chiang Dao. On that visit, 16-year-old Ly tried on her mother’s wedding outfit so that I could take a photo of the traditional dress. I never ..read more

San Juan La Laguna is a charming town on Lake Atitlan and just a short ride away by water taxi from the buzzing little port town of Panajachel. It was the first town we visited whilst scouting workshops for our Guatemala: Weaving, Embroidery and Community Tour. San Juan has a wonderful communal spirit thanks to the multitude of cooperatives focusing on coffee production, traditional textiles and organic produce. Natural dyeing is incredibly popular in Guatemalan textiles today and San Juan has more than it’s fair share of interesting and insightful places to learn local techniques, in Aug ..read more

Have you ever experienced textile love at first sight? I have, and the object of my desire subsequently led me on an embroidery pilgrimage through Guatemala.  It was 2018: our first ever tour of Mexico had just finished. As part of the tour, we had obviously seen a lot of textiles and specifically, Mexican huipils. I thought I had seen all the huipil designs one could ever imagine. But then I wandered into one shop and saw something completely new to me. A purple and lilac striped huipil with incredibly intricate hand-embroidered birds perched around the neckline. At that moment, I was bo ..read more

Chichicastenango Market can be either a paradise or a tournament for textile lovers. It is the biggest market in Central America and the sheer quantity of cultural textiles on offer is like nothing we’ve ever seen before (and let me tell you, we’ve seen a lot of markets on our travels). The choice, diversity and incredible level of craftsmanship can be both absolutely amazing and utterly overwhelming! Here is Haute Culture’s guide to making the most out of your time exploring this magnificent market. CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR ANNUAL GUATEMALA: WEAVING, EMBROIDERY & COMMUNITY TOUR Chic ..read more

Learning to spin raw ixcaco cotton with the Waqxaqi’ Kan Cooperative was one of the more technically challenging workshops from our time on Lake Atitlan. The cooperative live in Chuacruz, a community that was absolutely devastated by the Guatemalan civil war. Many of the men from the community were killed and their widows had to find a way to support themselves and their families. This is how the Waqxaqi’ Kan Cooperative was born. Today, they are among the few artisans still working with ixcaco, a brown cotton that comes from Mazatenango on the southern coast of Guatemala.  The raw ixca ..read more

Maya Traditions are an amazing social enterprise who work with over 120 women from all over the Lake Atitlan Valley. Our upcoming tour, Guatemala: Weaving, Embroidery and Community, was made possible thanks to their expertise on the local area, their close relationships with indigenous artisans and the fair trade work they create within communities. Maya Traditions have spent the last six years developing workshops which help to preserve traditional techniques, provide income for local families and train a new generation of artisans. During our month-long stay in Panajachel, I visited thei ..read more