The Confidant Collection

The Confidant Collection

Hilando Mexico is a charity that supports the woman artisans from the Ichmul community in Yucatan, Mexico.

Ichmul, ‘the place of little hills’, is a small town located in the heart of Yucatan’s rainforest. Here the only financial practice is agriculture, done by the men in the community. The population is 893 people, 432 of them are women.
Embroidery is a family tradition that women learn from childhood; thirty-two of them practice it full time. They call themselves ‘Nicte-Há’ a Mayan term that means ‘Water Flower’. The Nicte-Há women are highly detail-oriented, pouring their skills and hearts in each piece they create. Every design is unique, because each one tells a different story. Every flower they stitch holds a profound meaning: they illustrate their dreams and greatest passions.

In 2012, Hilando Mexico commissioned Valentina the creation of a furniture collection inspired by the work of the Nicte-Há woman artisans.

Valentina recreates the Conversation Chair, or Love Chair, inspired by the hand-made embroideries made by the Nicte-Há collective of woman artisans. A family of furniture pieces that can be break down into individual units, as armchairs, stools and ottomans. Offering a statement piece together with a range of pret-a-porter furniture to go with it.

The shapes of the settees are inspired by the organic design and natural patterns found in the actual embroideries. A flowing line that goes all along the back of the conversation chair, turning from armrest into backrest, and down again, and up again. The settees open up from the base to the top, like ‘Water Flowers’.

The Confidant Collection honours the heritage and artistic tradition of the women of Nicte-Há. The settees are white canvas for these unique pieces of impressive quality, displaying a striking balance between contemporary design and the millenary tradition of embroidery in the Southeast of Mexico’s Peninsula.

Logo-Firenze-300x223LOGO-HILANDO-MEXICO-lowres-300x137