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The Depository documents 10 techniques in Ecuador; by risk level: 1 critically endangered, 7 vulnerable, 2 stable. Each record opens with a public summary; the full research record is free to view once registered.
The weaving of clothing — most distinctively the cushma, a poncho-like garment with colorfully embroidered contours — on the ahuano, a specific backstrap loom developed by the Cañari people of Ecuador's southern highlands, a millennia-old…
The backstrap- and treadle-loom weaving of wool, cotton, and alpaca fiber into ponchos, tapestries, wall hangings, scarves, belts (fajas), and wraparound garments (anacos), practiced by the Kichwa Otavalo people of Ecuador's northern…
The pedal-loom weaving of wool into elaborate narrative tapestries depicting the customs, cosmology, and lived events of the Salasaka people, an Indigenous community of Quechua/Kichwa-speaking Inca descent occupying a small, roughly…
The spinning, sun-drying, resist-tying, dyeing, and backstrap-loom weaving of wool into macanas — traditional Ecuadorian shawls decorated in the ikat technique, in which thread is bound before dyeing to create the finished cloth's…
The harvesting, drying, cutting, carving, polishing, and dyeing of tagua palm seeds (Phytelephas aequatorialis) — nicknamed 'vegetable ivory' for their hard, shiny, ivory-white texture — into figurines, jewelry, buttons, and decorative…
The rolling, drawing, and hand-twisting of silver and gold into fine wire, formed into intricate filigree earrings, rings, bracelets, and pendants in Chordeleg, Azuay province — a town whose very name, meaning 'gold waterfall' or 'valley…
The tanning, stretching, molding, shaping, sewing, painting, and dyeing of leather into bags, belts, tack, and contemporary fashion goods in Cotacachi, Imbabura province — 'the Leather Capital of Ecuador,' home to more than 50 artisanal…
The hand-weaving of toquilla palm fiber (Carludovica palmata) into what the wider world mistakenly calls the 'Panama hat' — a genuinely Ecuadorian craft with archaeological evidence, including woven-headdress figurines, indicating practice…
The carving of religious icons, secular sculpture, furniture, and altarpieces from cedar, walnut, orange tree, and laurel wood, practiced in San Antonio de Ibarra — 'the wood-carving capital of Ecuador' — since the aftermath of the…
The stringing and weaving of small glass beads into collares — elaborate multi-strand necklaces reaching from neck to shoulder — practiced by women (and a few men) of the Saraguro Kichwa people of Loja province, one of the very few…