STORIES TOLD WITH CLAY

AMERICA ORRALA Utilitarian Crafts Workshop. Morrillo Commune

Traditional Santa Elena crafts made of clay.

The AMERICA ORRALA workshop is made up of a family group made up mainly of women, who have been producing traditional clay crafts for more than 100 years, as far as they can remember, producing in the same way and with the same techniques as their pre-Columbian ancestors.

The burning of their products (pots, casseroles, plates, ornaments, piggy banks, among other utilitarian products) is done using cow dung as fuel, which helps to concentrate a greater amount of heat and take advantage of all the resources provided by the area in which they live. One of the few material heritages that persist in this part of the country and that, according to experts, are among those that most resemble the authentic works of the Valdivia culture.

América Orrala, 80 years old, is a resident of the El Morrillo Commune. All her life she has dedicated herself to making clay pots, using the same methods and techniques as her ancestors. She remembers that her grandmother was also involved in this activity and was the person who taught her the benefits of working with this material, leading her to become a traditional artisan full of knowledge.

She started making her first works as a child and in fact they became her playing instruments and she has passed this tradition on to her daughters with whom she keeps alive this knowledge that is now part of her heritage. on the Santa Elena Peninsula, through the Utilitarian Crafts Workshop.

In the territories where the province of Santa Elena is located today, the oldest vestiges of the use of clay in America have been found, this being the place where its use began more than 5 thousand years ago (Cultura Valdivia).

To place your orders you can contact the producers directly at the following telephone numbers:

Innocenta Suarez: 0986187345
Maura Suarez: 0993291638

Morrillo Commune – Santa Elena Province – Ecuador.

In Guayaquil you can contact the following address and see all the clay products:

CACAU CITY
ciudadcacauguayaquil@hotmail.com
October 9, 1612 between Army Ave. -Garcia Moreno
-above Resfarm-

In Quito you can contact the following telephone number:
0995434973

Texts and photos: Jungle of Colors “Craft Workshop”

HOW TO GET TO MORRILLO?

At the Santa Elena terminal you can take the Santa Rita bus line on the route that goes to Morrillo.
By car you can take the same route, entering through the San Pablo detour on the E15 Pacific Trunk Road; another alternative way of entering is through San Vicente on the Guayaquil – Salinas highway.
The journey does not exceed 30 minutes in any case.

mud, morrillo commune, MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ECUADOR, spondylus route, Saint Helena

STORIES TOLD WITH CLAY