Textile Stories: Guatemalan Jaspe

At Travel Patterns our heart and mission is to weave traditional textiles and patterns into our everyday lives. We do this by working directly with partners in several different countries to create products that not only look amazing but are also ethically sourced. We strive to not only make these textiles accessible, but to also educate on how they are made.

Today we are featuring the Guatemalan Jaspe.

Jaspe (hahs-pay) is a tie-and-dye or resist-dye method which produces patterns in the warp, weft or both in a woven cloth. It may look familiar to you because it is also know as “ikat” in many places around the world. The weave structure is usually a plain weave that can be woven on backstrap or treadle looms and can be found in many villages around Guatemala. Jaspe is utilized commonly around the entire country but most notably it is the start of the indigenous textile, Corté.