When my colleagues at ClothRoads and I chose the name “Thrums” for our umbrella business, we were thinking of the old term for the loose threads that are left on the back of a loom when a new weaving is cut off. We were feeling sort of like loose threads after leaving Interweave Press in […]
27
Aug
Aug
Thrums’ books, as you may know by now, are heavy on photography. Our archives contain tens of thousands of photos of textiles and artisans and landscapes from all over the world. The images, the colors, the richness sometimes overwhelm one’s eyeballs. (The hours spent editing the photos, choosing the paltry few we have room to […]
19
Aug
Aug
In our culture today, it’s most likely a felt or straw Stetson or a baseball cap, that thing men put on their heads. (In my father’s time, it was the ubiquitous fedora.) In Peru, it’s a knitted chullo, often topped with a brimmed felt hat. One for warmth, one for sun protection. The knitted chullos […]
14
Aug
Aug
Chiapas is a mystery and a land of contradictions. Geographically, it ranges from the deep, sweaty Lacandon rainforest to the high, cold, encircling Sierra Madres. Spiritually, it’s traditional Roman Catholicism with holy mass one day, and chicken sacrifices in the corner of the church the next. It’s European saints’ effigies dressed in layers of handwoven […]
07
Aug
Aug
Our guides in this week’s travel adventure are Joshua Hirschstein and Maren Beck who began traveling through Southeast Asia fifteen years ago with their 9 and 11-year-old sons. After two family trips in Thailand, Vietnam, and later, Laos, Joshua and Maren wanted to transform these extended family adventures into a new lifestyle, a new way […]
31
Jul
Jul
Last week, publisher Linda Ligon transported us to the highlands of Bolivia and Peru. This week, I’m taking us on a journey to Morocco. After my first visit there with author Susan Schaefer Davis, I described it as a place of “Layers and layers of flavor, color, and light, distilled into a single joy.” I […]
24
Jul
Jul
No, we’re not going anywhere. It might be a long time. And honestly, I’m getting a little tired of being urged to watch travel films or read travel blogs as a substitute for the real thing. But here I go. This time last year I was in Bolivia, loving everything about that country, from the […]
17
Jul
Jul
Accha Alta Accha Alta is a small community high in the Peruvian Andes. To arrive there, you drive up steep switchbacks on a single-track road, past ancient Inca storage structures, and alpacas foraging on almost nonexistent vegetation. Or you walk. In spite of, or maybe because of, their remoteness and sparse lifestyle, the villagers of […]
10
Jul
Jul
When Lynda Pete or Barbara Ornelas greet you with the naming of their clans, they’re greeting you on behalf of their extended family: grandmothers, aunts, children, grandchildren. Their clans wrap them in the warm blanket of their history and culture, their lives. I’ve been thinking about the Elder women of their clans who appear in […]
03
Jul
Jul
How many national flags in the world? It depends on whom you ask. Maybe 194, or 197, and it can change at any moment as national governments and boundaries rearrange themselves. Add to that state and regional flags, organizational flags, holiday flags—the list is endless. In every case, a flag is just a rectangle of […]
