Mayan Hands

Mayan Hands
Guatemala

Mayan Hands was founded in 1989 by Brenda and Fredy Rosenbaum — two Guatemalans with expertise in business and anthropology — after Brenda spent years conducting research in Maya communities in Guatemala and Chiapas, witnessing exceptional craft talent alongside the effects of centuries of marginalisation. Initially the organisation worked with Maya women weavers whose lives had been devastated by the Guatemalan armed conflict and genocide. The structure they built around that work — fair trade, transparent pricing, long-term relationships with cooperatives — has been in place ever since.

Each piece is handmade by Maya women artisans using ancestral techniques, applying the ever-evolving artistic expression of their culture to products made for the modern market. The backstrap loom weaving, pine needle basketry, and embroidery that come through Mayan Hands are not approximations of traditional craft — they are the thing itself, made by the people who inherited it.

We carry Mayan Hands for two reasons: the objects are beautiful and the structure behind them is honest. Fair trade certification is easy to print on a label; Mayan Hands has been building the practice for over thirty years. When you buy one of their pieces, the money goes where it should.

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