Argentina · Hide preparation, patchwork assembly, and geometric hide painting
Quillanguería
The stitching and painting of quillangos (also called kai or, before painting, hapercó) — cloaks made from three to four guanaco skins, preferably from chulengos (young guanacos) — by Tehuelche women of Patagonia, collectively assembling hides in cooperative work groups called caperas that pieced together individual skins in a patchwork-like process before painting the interior surface with bright, geometric designs specific to their cosmovision. The craft distinguished two documented cloak types: everyday work quillangos, made from weaned ('barbucho') chulengo skins with the hair worn facing outward, and painted ceremonial quillangos, worn hair-side inward with the elaborately decorated interior surface displayed. Explicitly documented as an artisanal technique now 'tending to disappear' in Patagonia due to cultural and socioeconomic factors, quillanguería has been the specific subject of a dedicated rescue and reinsertion project undertaken in Chubut province.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not Applicable — no UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage inscription exists for this craft at time of writing
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