Today I want to share a little more about one of the materials we work with: plantain fiber. 🍌

Plantain grows abundantly across Colombia, especially in regions like Quindío, Caldas, and parts of the Andean coffee region. It also grows widely throughout Central America, parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia, always in tropical climates where the plant thrives year round.

After the fruit is harvested, the plant naturally completes its cycle. Instead of discarding the stalk, artisans extract the fiber from the inner layers of the plant. What would normally be agricultural waste becomes a strong, flexible, and beautiful material.

The fiber is cleaned, sun dried, and carefully twisted by hand into threads. What begins as a coarse, raw strand turns into a very delicate thread. From there, it’s woven into baskets, placemats, decorative pieces, and in our case, into our Copper Mochila bags. The fineness of the thread allows for intricate work while maintaining strength.

The process is entirely manual and requires patience. The texture you see in the final piece comes directly from the way each strand is prepared and tensioned during weaving.

In Colombia, working with natural fibers has long been part of rural craftsmanship. Plantain fiber, in particular, became a practical solution in farming communities where the material was readily available. 🧡

Thank you for following along!