Encarnita & Anastacia: Embroidery

Embroiderer Encarnación Berrio López based in Spain & Mexican fellow Anastacia Juana Gómez González

Encarnita grew up in her mother’s workshop, where she learned to embroider following the techniques used in Granada’s workshops since the 18th century, using drawings on paper, stretchers, needles, and a thimble. The workshop specialises in lace embroidery on tulle and chantilly to make “mantillas”, the typical Spanish ceremonial headwear.

Anastacia was born into a family of artisans in Bochobjó Alto, Mexico, where all the women weaved and embroidered, so threads and textiles were her toys. Thanks to her needlework skills, and speaking the local language of tsotsil as well as British, she got a job in one of the most reputed textile museums of maya cultures, Centro de Textiles del Mundo Maya.