Eric Chavez Santiago is Norma’s godson who she met in 2005 selling rugs as a college student in the Teotitlan del Valle village market. In late 2022, Norma invited Eric to join her as a partner in Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC to transition the business to the next generation. Eric is a weaver and natural dye expert. He learned to weave at the age of eight from his father, master weaver Federico Chavez Sosa. While in college, he developed over one hundred cochineal dye recipes that he still uses today.
A Oaxaca native, Eric was born and raised in Teotitlan del Valle, and speaks Zapotec, Spanish and English. He was the founding director of education at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca. and held that position from 2008 to 2016. In 2017, Alfredo Harp Helu and Isabel Granen Porrua asked him to open, manage and promote indigenous craft through their folk art gallery Andares del Arte Popular. He resigned in September 2022 to grow the family enterprise, Taller Teñido a Mano, and to join Norma as a partner in Oaxaca Cultural Navigator. Eric is a graduate of Anahuac University and has made textile presentations throughout the world. He is knowledgeable about all forms of Mexican textiles and folk art.
