Macario and Elena Pocop are originally from village of Sololá in Guatemala but today live in Mexico. Even though they left Guatemala, the Pocops continue to produce hand-sewn and embroidered apparrel, bags, and other items in the traditional styles of their Cakchiquel indian roots. To view a catalogue of Macario and Elena Pocop's hand-sewn items, please click on the link at the bottom of the page. Twenty-three years ago, during some of the worst political upheaval in Guatemala's history, Macario and Elena Pocop were forced to take their family and flee to Mexico. Originally from the village of Sololá in the heart of Guatemala's mountains and on the coast of Lake Atitlán, the Pocops settled in Tepoztlan in the Mexican state of Morelos. The Guatemalan village of Sololá and the area surrounding Lake Atitlán is famous for two things: the volcanoes and the indigenous Cakchiquel artisans. The Cakchiquel indians are direct descendants of the ancient Mayan peoples and Macario and Elena Pocop are proud to be Cakchiquel indian artisans. Macario and Elena Pocop were taught as children to hand-sew clothes and do ornate embroidery. The patterns and styles that they create today are those they inherited from their parents and reflect the traditions of their Cakchiquel and Mayan ancestors. Today, the Pocops are members of the Artesanos Unidos (United Artisans) cooperative in Tepoztlan. This cooperative aids Macario and Elena in purchasing their supplies, ensuring quality control, and their product presentation and marketing. The Mexican minimum wage in the state of Morelos, where the Pocop's village of Tepoztlan is located, is only $4.00 a day. The efforts of the Artesanos Unidos cooperative is very important in helping artisans like the Pocop family to make the most of their traditional artistic talents. Watch a video of Macario and Elena Pocop talking about their hand-embroidered bags and clothes. The Pocops demonstrate their traditional Cakchiquel artwork through their designs, sewing and embroidery of apparel, bags, and other items. Most of the shirts that the Pocops create are done completely by hand and from "scratch", beginning with cutting, sewing and assembling the material, designing the patterns of embroidery, and performing the intricate stitching by hand. The shirts that the Pocops create in this manner are the most traditional and authentic in the Cakchiquel and Guatemalan style. Sometimes the Pocops will purchase a blank t-shirt and then stitch their own embroidery designs of musical birds, peacocks, flowers, children playing, or butterflys among others onto the t-shirt. In this process the Pocops transform an ordinary t-shirt into a reflection of artistic and cultural creativity. In addition to producing wonderful pieces of apparel, Macario and wife Elena Pocop display their embroidery talents on beautifully colorful and very practical tote bags. These bags are contemporary in their usefulness but traditional in their unique indigenous Cakchiquel patterns and embroidery work. Elena Pocop also hand-sews traditional dolls. Elena dresses her dolls in traditional clothing of the Cakchiquel culture and Guatemalan heritage. The dolls are all stuffed and sewn by hand, including the features of their faces and the details in their costumes. Also, these dolls have moveable arms and legs, and can be posed in either sitting or standing positions. Elena is proud to say that her dolls are of a high quality and very durable, making them appropriate for the avid doll collector while also standing up to the wear and tear needed for a child's toy. The Pocops also hand-make refrigerator magnets and key chains. The refrigerator magnets represent traditionally dressed Cakchiquel women and are hand-sewn while the key chains are made of tiny beads and are formed into amusing figures like dolphins, frogs, lizards and others. To view a catalogue of Macario and Elena Pocop's hand-embroidered apparrel, bags, dolls, and other unique items, please click on the link below. Catalogue of Hand-Made Items by Macario & Elena Pocop