Pixan:

Pixan is a word of Mayan K’iche origin, meaning spirit, soul and hope. Our embroidery and textile projects incorporate the philosophical principals of the Mayan culture, and are inspired in the legacy of our ancestors, who represented their feelings and ideas as figures and images with profound meaning, which they sewed into their clothing.

Project Objectives:

1. Involve women in productive work that makes use of available resources, applies newly acquired knowledge and results in economic gain.
2. Assist women in selling their products at a fair, competitive price in markets both home and abroad. This way, they can generate income and thereby support their families and finance their children's education.
3. Unify the women in cooperative action for the transformation of their lives.

cooperativista para la transformación de sus propias vidas.

PIXAN STARTED IN THE COMUNITY OF XEABAJ ST. CATARINA, IN IXTAHUCAN, SOLOLA.
El círculo de mujeres de AMA, produce tela en "Telar de Pie" tela que sirve para confeccionar bolsas, sacos, vestidos, etc.
Esta tela se lleva a Quetzaltenango al taller de conrte y confección, para hacer los diferentes diseños.

The circle of women produced cloth on a foot-powered loom. The cloth was then used to make shirts, bags, purses, and other products in AMA’s workshop in Quetzaltenango.

Different women's circles also sew lines of embroidery on shawls woven by the women in Xeabaj.

CREATION OF THE DESIGNS:

Volunteer fashion students from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), USA, came down this year, as in previous years to create designs for bags and clothing using local fabrics and embroidery. Along with designing the products the volunteers taught the women in AMA's workshop how to transfer the designs to the fabrics and construct the products.

Later, with the help of AMA they helped with plans for the creation of threads, textures, and the colors of the cloths.