Improving Lives, One Handwoven Bag at a Time

While browsing neighborhood markets in rural Guatemala, Diane Herman always admired the quality of the traditional handwoven huipiles she saw for sale. She and her husband Justin had founded the House of Hope orphanage in the area as a memorial to (and named after) their late daughter.

The huipiles Diane saw were woven by local women on backstrap looms, using traditional skills passed down from older weavers to their daughters and granddaughters. Diane learned that weaving a single garment took about a month of work, but she also noticed that the market was too small to have many potential customers. She found herself wondering how she could help the women use their formidable weaving knowledge and ability more profitably. The result was The Lüm Project, created by the Hermans in 2016 as an extension of their orphanage.

Backstrap weaving skills are passed down from mother to daughter.

About the Project

The Lüm Project focuses on helping single mothers with limited education and employment skills to support themselves and their families. For this non-profit, Diane employs one group of women to weave cloth and another group to cut and sew the cloth into high-quality bags, blankets, and accessories. The products are primarily sold online to customers in North America, who value both the appealing handwoven items and the knowledge that their purchases help vulnerable women.

The Lüm Project now employs a dozen weavers, who work on 15" backstrap looms with 330-end commercially dyed cotton warps, creating patterning in their work using pick-up sticks. They weave from sketches that Diane creates, based on her knowledge of motifs and colors that will appeal to customers. She continually designs new patterns and new product ideas to maintain a fresh inventory and keep potential buyers interested.

A newly wound warp, along with a look at the fabric that will be woven with it.

Much of the weaving takes place at workers' homes, while the sewing happens in a dedicated building on the House of Hope property. A head weaver, Candelaria, oversees the other weavers and coaches them as needed. Some of the women do single-color work, some do moderate patterning, and others weave the more elaborate motifs. The weavers generally work for 6 to 8 hours a week, producing about 100" of cloth in that time and earning as much as they would in a full month of weaving huipiles.

The workers are paid immediately for each completed warp or finished item; they can use the money to buy their weekly groceries, to purchase clothing or medicine for their families, or to improve their housing. Because the Lüm Project falls under the orphanage’s fiscal umbrella, the Hermans can run it with no overhead costs. All proceeds from product sales go directly back to the workers.

The Lüm Project is making a difference in these Guatemalan women’s lives, one handwoven project at a time.

Weavers produce fabric for Lüm Project bags in a broad and ever-changing variety of motifs and colors.

Handwoven Products

Diane knows that they must offer high-quality finished products to keep American consumers interested. I recently attended an open house in Colorado, where a multitude of Lüm Project items were for sale. I purchased two cosmetic bags and a laptop sleeve, and I intend to buy additional items online for holiday gifts this year.

In my opinion, the finished products rival anything you’d find in a high-end U.S. boutique. For example, their attractive cosmetic bags are well-constructed, use sturdy zippers, and are lined with thick, flexible plastic to protect the interior from makeup spills.

For more information about the Lüm Project, or to shop online, visit their website. But be aware—their products sell quickly, so if you see something you like, don’t dawdle on it. Diane restocks the store regularly, but the available designs may vary.

---

Lavon Peters is Long Thread Media‘s managing editor. She weaves together deadlines, processes, and budgets to keep the company‘s print and web content on track.