Stories from Around the Globe

West Bengal Kantha Embroidery

Written by Mary Anne Wise "West Bengal Kantha" is a stitched form of embroidered story telling.    It is one of the oldest forms of embroidery to originate in India and rural housewives played a m...

The Artistry of José Sicay Tzina and his Family of Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala

Written by Mary Anne Wise Our history with Jose goes back nearly 30 years when Cultural Cloth co-founder, Jody Slocum met and befriended José as a volunteer with Farmer to Farmer, a Wisconsin based...

Center for Traditional Textiles, Cusco Peru

Written by Mary Anne Wise Late last fall we reached out to our friend Nilda Callanaupa Alvarez of Chincero, Peru co-founder of the CTTC (Center for Traditional Textiles of Nilda Callanaupa Alvarez ...

Llapanmaki Weaving & Embroidery Ayacucho, Peru

Written by Mary Anne Wise Llapanmaki Weaving & Embroidery Ayacucho, Peru - Creates opportunities for women by teaching handmade textile making. Llapanmaki Studio is a second generation family b...

Ta’na’na Silk Cocoon Baskets from Madagascar

Written by Mary Anne Wise It’s a beautiful thing when exquisite craftsmanship, nature, conservation, utility and reliable livelihoods come together to create opportunities for marginalized communit...

Vetiver Root Baskets From Madagascar

Written by Mary Anne Wise We travel to Madagascar to meet master basket weavers from Association Tahiana. The association provides training and income earning opportunities for impoverished women a...

Spirit Weavers: Wounaan Basket Makers

Written by Mary Anne Wise  Spirit Weavers: Wounaan basket makers. The Wounaan of Panama’s rain forest believe all plants have spirits and therefore the basket maker is a Spirit Weaver. Contemporary...

Malagasy Folktales Retold: Updated artistry from the women of Stitch St Luce, Madagascar.

Written by Mary Anne Wise In 2015 a customer brought in a bag of embroideries she’d purchased from a women’s economic empowerment group in Madagascar called Stitch St Luce. She wanted us to ‘see’ t...

Sufiyan Khatri: Block Printer and Natural Dyer

Written by Mary Anne Wise The first time we visited Sufiyan Khatri’s natural dye block-printing studio located outside of Bhuj, in the Kutch, we were so excited to see all the colors, all the patt...

Bandhani with Jabbar Khatri: An ancient way of making pattern on cloth

Written by Mary Anne Wise You tend to remember where you were when you get the phone call alerting you of your mother’s imminent death. I was in Santa Fe, in a hotel room with a stranger, a man fro...

Gaga for Gamcha!

Written by Mary Anne Wise We learned about gamcha this winter while visiting the folks at 145 East, a clothing company in Kolkata. Gamcha is a thin cotton towel handwoven in bright primary colors b...

The Bamboo Scarf Weavers of Guatemala

Written by Mary Anne Wise The Bamboo scarf weavers of Asociación Maya de Desarollo (Maya Weaving Association) in Guatemala, is one of the longest organized cooperatives we’ve had the privilege of w...

The Comeback of Kala Cotton

Written by Mary Anne Wise Weaving in India has traditionally been a man’s job, while women have always assisted by filling the bobbins and making the warp. So, on our recent trip to the Kachchh in...

Kantha Embroidery Empowers Women

Written by Mary Anne Wise  A highlight for out trip to Kolkata, India was time spent with Shamlu Dudeja, the founder of Self Help Enterprise (SHE), a nonprofit that empowers women through embroide...

Hold Your Horses: The Taliban and Rug Making

Written by Mary Anne Wise It’s difficult to imagine how the Taliban in Afghanistan and Cultural Cloth in Maiden Rock, WI could ever intersect. And by extension, how the lives of our supportive cus...

A Bolt of Cloth and Repurposed Linen. “Straw” into gold. Product Development: An example of our process.

Written by Mary Anne Wise  Late last fall we bought a bolt of gorgeous natural-colored, hand-spun, hand-woven hemp cloth from a weaving group in Laos. We weren’t sure what we were going to do with ...

Ralli Quilts: Explosion of Color, Pattern & Love

Written by Mary Anne Wise During June, Cultural Cloth is hosting an exhibit of vintage Ralli Quilts that we collected on a recent trip to India. All of the pieces are for sale. You can see them up...

Turning Handmade Textiles into Home Decor Pillows

Written by Mary Anne Wise Sometimes in the past we would meet artisans who made beautiful handmade weavings or amazingly detailed embroideries but they do not have the resources to take these hand...

How to Select a Larger Handmade Rug for your Living Room

Written by Mary Anne Wise Honestly, when we see a rug we can’t live without, we buy it and then after it arrives on our front porch we figure out where it is going to go in our house. We have been...

How to Affordably Hang a Handmade Rug as Art on Your Wall

Written by Mary Anne Wise Here at Cultural Cloth we surround ourselves with beautiful handmade textiles in our home decor. Some of our textiles are museum quality handmade heirlooms that deserve p...

Reconnecting and Visiting with Rug Hooking Artisans in Guatemala

Written by Mary Anne Wise Mary Anne Wise, Co-Founder of Cultural Cloth, is traveling in Guatemala this week. As always, she is multi-tasking. She is teaching an embroidery workshop. She is working...

Hand Felted Wool Rugs Made by Women in Afghanistan

Written by Mary Anne Wise We have been buying hand felted wool rugs from this women’s NGO (Non-Governmental Association) in Northern Afghanistan for years. Our customers love them. The rugs are t...