Yarn used in Ecuadorian ikat cloth is coloured using indigenous plants, collected with elaborate rituals. The woman in the foreground is wearing an ikat shawl. – Institute of Cultural Heritage, Ecuador
The word for ikat textiles in Quichua, the language spoken in Ecuador before it was colonised by the Spanish in the 16th century, has been forgotten. But the technique itself, which goes even further back, is still widely used, and the cloth is proudly worn.
Fragments of the fabric dating back to 500 CE have been found in the country’s south, where ikat is still made, according to the Ecuador Institute of Cultural Heritage. And, says Ambassador of Ecuador to Malaysia Lourdes Puma Puma, this form of weaving could already have begun around 4000 BCE, judging from the impression of the material found on potters clay from that era, along with tools.
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