• Cecilia weaves contemporary manila fibre baskets
• She studied art, art history and education in Chile, France and Spain
• She draws inspiration from Chile’s Lake District landscape, colours and craft traditions

Cecilia Chamorro’s flax basketry is rooted in traditions of the southern lake district of Puerto Montt, where the sea penetrates the mainland, blurring boundaries and causing a network of inland lakes. Her basketry expresses this with fine, close and careful stitches in a coiled and open weave technique, called aduja. Cecilia’s knowledge in art theory and history has guided her self-taught path, along with her ancestral ties to the land. In 2019, she sought creative expression beyond theory, which led her to explore form freely, with technical excellence. The fibre that she uses is phormium tenax, which is referred to as manila locally. Cecilia weaves year-round and showcases her work at Universidad Católica’s International Crafts Show in Santiago each December.