Collection: Peruvian Gourd Artisans

Lucuma artisan Lizzet Hurtado of Peru has chosen to continue her family's gourd art tradition. After the harvest, gourds are carefully sorted, scraped, and sun dried. The artisans then sketch designes into each gourd and hand carve them, applying final shading with pyrography. Traditionally, gourd burning was considered a job mostly for men, but in her workshop, Lizzet makes sure that everyone on her team knows how to do every part of the process needed to create gourds. She says, "I know that if we join our ideas, our strengths, our thoughts, with the support of both men and women, we can make a better world."