Urdimbre Project and its efforts to preserve tradition

Sancti Spíritus, Dec 26 (ACN) Recognized as one of the essential initiatives of this city for its work in the preservation of traditional needlework, the Urdimbre project is preparing to celebrate the 510th anniversary of the former village and its seven years, spaces that will allow the mastery achieved by its members to be shown.

Obdulia González, co-founder of Urdimbre, stressed to ACN that among the proposals planned for next January is the second edition of the Teresa Toscano in Memoriam Handkerchief Festival, an event that, beyond placing in its proper context a garment that received worldwide recognition, will allow a closer look at the work of one of the paradigms of the craft.

With the aim of continuing to promote the community work that has characterized them throughout this time, González declared that the event will include two essential moments: a competition in which all lovers of this event can participate and an exhibition at the Museo Romántico, a beautiful institution in the historic center that has opened its doors to them from the very beginning.

The initiative, which began in mid-2017 and whose work is recognized in various parts of Cuba, has the essential objective of rescuing and transmitting the most autochthonous values of the town, declared Creative and Artisan City of the World.

According to Zobeida González, leader of Urdimbre, in recent times several of the dreams of its members have materialized and, in this sense, she pointed to the fact that they now have a brand that identifies them in the market and the possibility of exchanging knowledge with specialists from Brazil, Venezuela, the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico, which has facilitated their approach to other ancestral techniques.   It has been a period of research, of collaboration between the artisans, because it is a manifestation with wide areas to explore, reiterated González, who pointed out that at the moment they are immersed in the making of bags using raffia, a kind of natural fibre thread or string from a kind of palm tree that is very popular in the European market.  

For Adrián Carmona, another founder member, the project has grown both in knowledge and in the ways of projecting itself towards the community, as we started with workshops aimed at the youngest children and we have also been organizing events to perpetuate the handicraft.  

Urdimbre Project

Urdimbre takes its name from the first threads that are placed in the loom in parallel, which must be strong, resistant, and then embroidered by the weft; and that is what these collective aims to be, the threads that support the Trinitarian tradition so that it is never lost, added Carmona. (ACN)