Argentina · Raw and colt-tiento rawhide braiding
Soguería Criolla
The hand-braiding of raw cattle hide and tiento de potro (colt-hide cord) into lassos, reins, knife sheaths, keychains, wallets, and other plaited leather goods, a tradition dating roughly four centuries to the Río de la Plata region's earliest gaucho necessity-craft, and specifically flourishing today in Mercedes, Corrientes — a city whose own artisans have preserved raw-wool, esparto-grass, leather, wood, and fine-metal techniques alongside soguería, and which maintains a dedicated Casa del Artesano at its repurposed historic railway station cultural complex. Contemporary practitioner Hernán López, founder of the Corrientes-based workshop El Aromito, taught himself the craft from hobby beginnings by watching hours of instructional video and directly contacting master sogueros across the country, building it into a full-time career under the province's own 'Hecho en Corrientes' quality brand. The craft's reach has extended into contemporary design collaboration: one documented case saw an interior designer commission a soguero to hand-braid an entire chair back from roughly 400 meters of knife-cut leather, working a full month in Corrientes to complete the piece in time for a New York exhibition.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not Applicable — no UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage inscription exists for this craft at time of writing; a closely related soguería tradition in neighboring Santiago del Estero (Loreto) has been formally identified as provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage since July 2018
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