El Guare : a Ralámuli basketry

Basketry from plant fibers is an innate knowledge of man, its main difference lies in ingenuity and skill to combine practice and aesthetic.

The ‘guare’ is the name that the Ralámuli community, located in the Northwestern Sierra of Mexico, gives to baskets made from the sotol, a semi-desert plant native to North America.

The ralámulis are one of the few communities in Mexico characterized by their cultural integrity with pre-Hispanic origins, most of their know-how corresponds to an immediate interaction with their environment: the mountain. They inhabit a rugged mountainous area dissected by numerous steep canyons, their life is marked by sharp contrasts linked to altitude, both alpine and semitropical conditions are encountered.

Their baskets are used as storage for the plants, grains and seeds necessary for the daily culinary and medical needs. 

Photo J.L. Martínez

Photo Ángel Moreno

However, the beauty that lies in its simplicity has a primary functionality :  its design has above all a practical purpose in their nomadic routine.