Heritage · Pile, Ecuador · Since 1878
One family. One village.
Six generations at the loom.
Domingo Carranza weaves the finest Montecristi Panama hats in the world — entirely by hand, from the coastal commune of Pile, where his family has practiced the craft since 1878.
The weaver
Domingo Carranza
Domingo Carranza was born on December 20, 1969, in the commune of Pile, in the Canton of Montecristi. The son of Aura Margarita and Jorge Ignacio, he is the eldest of twelve siblings.
At seven, his parents and his grandmother Ana María taught him to weave toquilla straw. The Carranza Alarcón family has kept records of the craft since 1878 — Domingo is the sixth generation of weavers in the family.
At nine, his first hat passed the family’s quality control and went to market. He gave the ninety sucres he earned to his mother for the weekly shop. His hands have not stopped weaving since.
In London, Dubai, New York, Milan and Moscow, his hats are known by name — sometimes more than in Quito or Guayaquil.
MoMA · New York · Items: Is Fashion Modern? · 2017
The hat the Museum of Modern Art chose.
It began one morning, when my son Javier received an email. An Italian curator wanted one of my hats for an exhibition at a museum in New York. None of us yet knew what the MoMA was.
The order was clear and peremptory — they wanted a hat, and there was a deadline. My eyes, my hands and my concentration answered. I wove a new hat in time, delivered it to the museum, and an invitation to the gala followed.
With help from Ecuador’s First Lady, Rocío González Navas, my visa and tickets arrived in time, and I travelled to New York for the gala — one of the most important experiences of my life.
Worn around the world
From a loom in Pile to the world’s shoulders.
Domingo’s hats have been worn by collectors and heads of state alike — among them King Charles III. Each one leaves Pile the way it was made: by a single pair of hands, over weeks and months at the loom.
The next generation
A school for the craft.
Domingo belongs to ASOPILEHATS, an association of the artisans who weave toquilla straw. Many of them teach — or learn — at the weavers’ workshop school.
Weaving is innate to the community, but it must be professionalised and perfected so the work can be offered directly to the world. The school exists so a century-old, intangible heritage passes to our grandchildren, and to theirs.
