Celmira Buelvas’s journey as an artisan began more out of necessity than from a conscious desire to follow the tradition of her town, San Jacinto. She was only nine years old when her mother, Rosa María Escalante Carmona, passed away. Without an active father figure in her life, Celmira and her three sisters were left orphaned. What else could they do but learn to work? They found refuge under the guidance of their neighbor, Mercedes Pimienta, from whom they learned to weave—though at first, they had to stand on three bricks just to reach the loom. By the time Celmira was 13, she was already making large hammocks. In those early years, they worked as laborers for Mercedes, who refused to heed the prejudice of many neighbors who looked down on the girls for being motherless. A different future awaited them, one of becoming dedicated artisans. In Celmira’s case, that future would include earning a prestigious Mastery Medal and eventually becoming a businesswoman.

Celmira speaks in the plural. She knows that collaboration among people is the core of her work, a lesson she learned through her involvement with the San Jacinto Artisans Association, an organization she was invited to join by a friend who acted as a fairy godmother. Her workshop has become a home for many, a place she would have liked to find herself when she was a child in need. Her life has become an opportunity to teach everything she’s learned, helping to transform the lives of those around her. That’s why, when she won the medal in 2022, she shared the honor with everyone who played a role in her workshop, ensuring that the recognition reached them all. She’s taught her four children to weave, a nephew whose life has not been easy, a neighbor who has suffered greatly and became her adopted son, and anyone who’s come to her, asking not for handouts, but to be taught how to fish for themselves. What drives her is the hope that neither her children, nor her grandchildren, nor her neighbors will suffer the same hardships she did, that history won’t repeat itself.

She says this is just the tip of the iceberg, that if she were to tell everything that’s happened in her life, there wouldn’t be enough paper to write it all down, and that we’d have to stop her because she has so much more to share. She is calm and warm-hearted. She lives very close to her daughters Blanca and Karen Dayana, who have learned the spirit with which she works and her dedication to her family’s well-being. Together, they make hammocks, backpacks, table runners, placemats, and bags, always keeping alive the unique details that define them as artisans from San Jacinto.