Designs for life

“Red. That’s the colour we use the most. It represents our blood,” says Marina Rodri´guez from Tecpa´n, Guatemala. Marina has been weaving since she was eight. The skill has been passed down through generations, along with each Mayan community’s unique designs. But in recent years, companies have been imitating their designs and mass-producing textiles, threatening the practice of weaving by hand – and jeopardising the livelihoods of many indigenous women. Now, a grassroots Guatemalan organisation, the Asociacio´n Femenina para el Desarrollo de Sacatepéquez (AFEDES), is helping Marina and other women fight back by campaigning for collective intellectual property rights for Mayan textile designs. The group has already achieved some success. In 2018, Guatemala’s constitutional court recommended that a comprehensive law be developed to protect Mayan intellectual property: this would recognise indigenous communities…