Teotitlán del Valle Weavers
Handwoven Zapotec wool rugs from the Vásquez family workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico.
High in the Tlacolula Valley of Oaxaca sits Teotitlán del Valle, a Zapotec village that has been weaving wool on the pedal loom for more than five centuries. Every rug on NISAYA is made here — by hand, by name, in the family workshop of master weaver J. Isaac Vásquez García and his sons Juan Isaac and Wilmer Vásquez Luis.
Three generations at one loom
Isaac helped lead the revival of pre-Hispanic natural dyes in the 1950s and 60s — documented in Natural History Magazine, The New York Times, and PBS's Craft in America. Today his sons carry the tradition forward, dyeing wool with cochineal (a small insect that gives deep reds and burgundies), indigo (fermented into blues), and marigold, pomegranate, and pericón for yellows and greens.
How a Teotitlán rug is made
- Raw Mexican merino wool is hand-carded and spun.
- Yarn is dyed in copper pots over open fire — no synthetic pigment.
- Warp is set on a wooden pedal loom brought by the Spanish in the 16th century.
- A single 3×5 rug takes 4–8 weeks of daily weaving.
- Every rug is one-of-one and signed by its weaver.
Shop rugs woven in Teotitlán del Valle
NISAYA is the family's direct-to-collector storefront in the United States. Every rug listed is in-hand, ready to ship, and comes with the maker's name and story.