This is a guest post by Laura Bucci, who knits and sews bags. You can find her at her arts & crafts blog.

I must admit that I prefer to buy foreign craft items when I’m actually visiting the country of origin as opposed to buying them in my home country. There’s something missing when these items are sold out of context. Right now, I’m thinking specifically about Latin American crafts since that’s where I’ve traveled to in the last few years. I feel there’s a lot that I’m not getting by not having seen the people, the landscape, the country, the culture where the piece is made.

In one of my the trips to Guatemala, I bought two small embroidery wall hangings. Although I did not meet the women who made these pieces, throughout Guatemala it is easy to spot Mayan  women working on the streets or craft markets (as seen in top picture). By being exposed to the culture, and through dialogues with shop owners,  my appreciation of my newly purchased embroideries was greatly increased.  And now when I look at my Mayan embroideries at home, images of the place, the women, and the culture flood back.

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