First, I want to declare that the healing from the right total knee replacement is progressing very well. The incision is knitted together. The discomfort is subsiding. The swelling has decreased significantly. I can walk without my hiking pole, but I take it along just in case! All is good, I’m also back to normal, and have regained enough energy to contemplate writing more to you here. Thank you for your patience during this time of silence as I recovered over the last six weeks.
Last Friday, my friend and textile designer Samantha Martinez, who started Koto Designs in 2019, was invited to participate in a two-day expoventa organized by Living Threads Studio in Santa Fe last Friday. I cleared my calendar and made the one-and-a-half-hour journey through the Rio Grande Gorge pass to get there for a visit.
Samantha’s work is extraordinary. She works with indigo, cochineal, and other natural dyes derived from plants found only in Oaxaca. A native Mexican, Samantha learned shibori. She painstakingly stitches the cloth (cotton, silk, linen) to create a resist when put into the dye bath. That creates the amazing patterns in the cloth. Her style is minimalist and very Japanese. Samantha’s sewing techniques are meticulous and the finished work is couture quality. I was astonished to turn a pair of pants I bought in Oaxaca inside out to see that all the seams were finished with seam binding.
A bonus to the day included meeting up with visiting San Francisco friends Linda and Jan at Living Threads Studio. Then, we went off to lunch at The Tea Room on Canyon Road. After goodbyes, I made my way back to Taos just before dusk.
Samantha’s studio is about thirty minutes outside the city, and she is open by appointment only.
NOTE: I have a stash of jewelry — earrings, necklaces, bracelets — plus, textiles from Guatemala and Mexico that I brought back from Oaxaca to sell. I’m photographing them and plan to put them in the shop later this week. Stay tuned!
