Bolivian Tapestry Suede Tote

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Using a centuries-old technique, Bolivian families weave mantas—beautiful woolen textiles in geometric patterns—for use as bedding and apparel. Today, artisans take pieces of vintage mantas and frame them in soft suede and durable leather to create these beautiful totes. Features zip closure and roomy interior compartment with cell phone and sunglasses pockets. As each manta is unique, please expect some variation in color and pattern. Available in Red and Brown.

Handmade in Bolivia
Handles are 15 1/2'' long
14''W x 11 3/4''L x 3 1/2''D

One of the artists involved in making these Bolivian manta bags is Julio Reas Patzi. Growing up in the country, he spoke only Quechua and tended to the family's cows and sheep. None of the family had ever seen a TV set, nor used a phone. As a young man, he traveled to La Paz to buy a radio for the family, and after seeing the economic possibilities in the city, decided to stay and help support his family back home by finding work with a leather shop.

Over his years of apprenticeship in this family-run leather workshop, Julio learned and mastered leather techniques, and learned Spanish in anticipation of one day opening his own shop in La Paz. Over the years, his brothers, sisters, and cousins joined him in the city, each learning leatherwork and coming to specialize in a product or technique such as tooling and stitching, or producing wallets and belts. Each member of the Patzi family who came to the city now run their own small studios in El Alto and the villas just outside of town. As a result, Julio's nieces and nephews and the children of his extended family back home have all been able to attend and finish school.

Maintaining a connection to his country home and Quechua roots is important to Julio, and one of the ways he does that is by incorporating textiles into his work. Quechua and Aymara women produce woolen textiles using handlooms that they call mantas or awayos—geometric-patterned fabrics used as ponchos, shawls, infant slings, blankets, and more. Women often gather the wool from their own animals, then spin, dye, and weave the yarn themselves. Julio buys vintage and new mantas from village women and incorporates them into his bags and backpacks, guaranteeing that each product is unique and fully handmade, and also giving women in his ancestral community an additional way to make money for their families.

Using a simple backstrap loom and centuries-old techniques, Bolivian families weave mantas—beautiful woolen textiles in geometric patterns. Common among pre-Inca and pre-conquest cultures such as the Aymara, some of the earliest mantas found in textile museum collections date from 1400 A.D. Warm and durable, they are used as slings to carry infants and blankets for bedding. They can also be worn either on the back, like a cape, or over the back and arms, like a shawl. Mantas usually have a simple striped pattern, and can last for generations.

Like many indigenous art forms, fewer young people are learning how to weave, and the craft is in danger of losing its place in Andean culture. By finding new uses for mantas that increase the market and appreciation for these crafts more artisans are encouraged to continue the tradition. Today, exquisite vintage and contemporary woven mantas can be found as accents in leather bags, tailored jackets, and as culturally rich examples of indigenous art independent of their enduring practical use.