Argentina
Sky Blue & Cream
Wide fields of pale blue and cream divided by cobalt lines, with brown stepped diamonds in between.
Country world · 3 models
Argentina
Stepped diamonds, structured bands
Argentina’s weaving cultures stretch from the Puna to Patagonia. The three designs in this world work with stepped diamonds, clearly structured bands and calm contrasts – two as a textile insert, one with motifs placed directly on the brown base.
Models from Argentina 
Technique
Guarda atada: the pattern starts in the yarn
For the guarda pampa ponchos of La Pampa province, the Argentine government describes the “guarda atada” technique, an ikat method: weaving and dyeing are combined, so the pattern is already set in the yarn before the cloth is made. The poncho is woven in one piece from sheep’s wool.
Background
The tradition
Ask about Argentine textiles and most people think of the poncho first. An article by the Argentine government calls it a garment that is both ancestral and contemporary – and the country’s most important handcrafted product.
Yet there is no single Argentine poncho. In Patagonia, Mapuche weavers make it in one piece on the vertical loom. In La Pampa, descendants of displaced Ranquel communities weave guarda pampa ponchos using ikat. In the Puna, light ponchos are made from hand-spun llama wool, while in Santiago del Estero and Salta two lengths of cloth from the criollo loom are joined into one poncho.
Translation
What the designs make of it
The LÁAK designs do not reproduce any specific community’s pattern. They translate the idea of stepped diamonds and structured bands into a narrow textile insert – and in “Coral & Blue”, into single motifs placed directly on the brown base.
Models from Argentina
Argentina
Coral & Blue
Single stepped diamonds in rose, coral and blue sit directly on the brown base – the quietest design in the collection.
Argentina
Navy & Mustard
Blocks of forest green, mustard and navy separated by red lines, with a brown stepped diamond at the centre.
