One day, while Ana Virginia was adding food coloring to the ice creams she had started making and selling after deciding to turn her life around, a small accident occurred and led her to her current craft. The food coloring stained the corn husks that were already in the trash can, revealing to Ana Virginia the material she had been searching for to become an artisan. She had returned to her hometown, Páramo, looking to change her lifestyle and reclaim her health. She was recovering from a heavy workload after working for ten years as a supervisor at a leather bag factory. She envisioned having her own home, a place where she could immerse herself in something that rekindled her love for manual work, and through trial and error, she discovered corn husks. Ofcourse, she approached this new phase with the courage that runs in her Santander blood, never fearing hard work.

She discovered the versatility of the material obtained after drying the corn, which can be stored for as long as it remains dry. She realized that the husks are translucent and could be used to make lamps. This is how she carved out a niche for herself among artisans working with more conventional materials, as until recently, corn husk crafts were not well received in the artisan community. She found the perfect adhesive to assemble the overlapping husks and added a LED bulb, confident it wouldn’t cause a fire. With that, she brought her idea to life, even unsure whether what she was doing fell under weaving, tying, constructing, or rolling techniques.

Gradually, by attending fairs and honing her skills by observing more experienced artisans, she built a team of local mothers in Páramo whom she trained in the craft. She earned the respect and recognition she sought in her community. Ana Virginia refined her process for preparing the husks, which are cooked, washed, dyed, and dried in her workshop. She also connected with local corn growers who still strip the husks by hand, not with machines, to ensure the quality of her materials. She returned with the hope of giving her town a unique craft, and today, 25 years later, she takes pride in being the local artisan who has trained over a hundred women in the technique.

Since the beginning, flowers have been a part of her repertoire—beautiful creations with petals cut one by one, lacking only their fragrance. In addition, she makes nativity scenes, dolls, holy families of all sizes, and, of course, the patroness of Páramo, the Virgin of Health, who watched over her upon her return and restored her well-being while she worked to find the craft that had been calling to her for so long.