Our story

Some things you don't just remember. You carry them.

Origen Chapín started from a simple idea: that an authentic Guatemalan textile could cross the border without losing what makes it Guatemalan. Not a reproduction, not an "inspired by" version. The real piece, woven where it has always been woven.

Fourteen towns, fourteen languages

In Guatemala, weaving is not one single craft. Every town has its own palette, its own weave and its own figures — and anyone who knows how to read them can tell where a piece comes from just by looking at it.

A tortilla warmer from Nebaj looks nothing like one from Momostenango. The brocade of Chichicastenango tells different stories than the one from Zunil. The pieces we sell come from fourteen different places — Nebaj, Cobán, Momostenango, Chichicastenango, Zunil, San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Atitlán, Sololá, Panajachel, Quetzaltenango, Antigua, Sacatepéquez and Guatemala City — and each one carries the color of its region.

The backstrap loom

Most of our pieces are woven on a backstrap loom, the same technique used in the highlands since before Guatemala existed as a country. The weaver ties one end of the loom to a post and the other around her own waist: the cloth is held taut by her body. It is slow work, and that is why no two pieces ever come out exactly alike.

Only one of each

That is what it means when we say our pieces are one of a kind. It isn't a sales angle — it's a consequence of the method. When a piece sells, there is no identical one waiting in a warehouse, because there never was.

That's why every listing shows a photo of the exact piece you will receive, and why we say that variations in color and weave are not defects. They are the signature of the woman who wove it.

From Guatemala to your door

We ship from Guatemala to the United States, with freight and import duties already paid. What you see in the price is what you pay: nothing is added when the package arrives.

For those who miss it, and those discovering it

Some people buy from us because they recognize the weave from their grandmother's house. Others see it for the first time and want to understand how a piece of cloth can hold so much.

Both seem like good reasons to us.

Questions about a piece, a measurement or an order? Write to sales@origenchapin.com. We reply within 2 business days.