Ecuador, 2025
Unay Muchiku (Unay [ooh-nahy] adj. 1. of long ago 2. traditional; Muchiku [mu-chee-koo] n. 1.sombrero /hat)
From Unay Muchiku website, “One family - 300 years of tradition. Meet Genevieve, Belén, and Jia Picuasi. (Grandmother, Mother, Daughter) Unay Muchiku is a workshop created by our family dedicated to making traditional, handcrafted hats. We are part of the Ecuadorian indigenous people called the Kichwa, and the “sombrero” is a significant part of our cultural identity.”
In January 2025, The Felt Road visited Unay Muchiku. These photos give a glimpse into the daily life of this remarkable family of artists, working together to carry on the tradition of making these exquisite, labor-intensive traditional Felt hats. Looking ahead to future years, The Felt Road is collaborating with Unay Muchiku in hopes of partnering to provide a workshop that teaches traditional hat-making techniques and co-designs hats with Pacific Northwest Indigenous artists. This could be made possible through a reciprocal partnership, as well as private and public grants, with the House of Welcome in Olympia, WA.
This workshop is the last of its kind in Ecuador, and possibly the world, due to the rise of factories, modern machine techniques, synthetic fibers, and easily accessible chemical dyes. Most artisans now believe that the original wool Felt hat is no longer a viable business because of the cost and time needed to make one by hand. As a result, today you will hardly find the same high-quality, authentic products of the past.
Depending on the hat requested, it can take anywhere from a week to two months to complete just one. The higher-end hat, for example, is so compact that it is hard and sounds like a helmet when you knock on it with your fist. This is a traditional quality rarely seen by foreigners. Unay Muchiku has gained worldwide attention from universities, museums, and anthropologists for its textile, cultural heritage, art, ecology, and fashion.
In the meantime, you can visit their incredible workshop and guest house in Ecuador for a step back in time. An experience of a lifetime to participate in an authentic slice of history and living art form firsthand!
For more info, visit unaymuchiku.com
General: info@unaymuchiku.com
Boutique: unaymuchikuboutique@gmail.com
PC: Unay Muchiku Studio
“The sheep and alpaca wool are all locally sourced. At Unay Muchiku, we believe in strengthening our communities as much as possible by providing jobs and purchasing goods locally. In-house, we create all our colors from the earth that we stand on, using the techniques our ancestors taught us. We do not believe chemicals are needed and we strive to work in harmony with the environment to keep our planet as healthy and clean as possible. “
Belen Picuasi.
