Griselda named her workshop after a bird she deeply admires: the yaurí, a weaver bird. She describes its yellow chest, its black feathers and wings, and the long nest it weaves to shelter its family, often seen hanging from a chontaduro palm. This artisan, who lives in Inírida and whose roots trace back to Brazil before settling in Guainía, speaks of colors with such precision because she has always been drawn to them. She often catches herself staring at the landscape, and regularly pulls out her camera to capture details that strike her eye—images she later archives, hoping one day to weave them into her craft. Her sensibility aligns perfectly with her reputation: she is celebrated as a master colorist of chiquichiqui fiber, and her coiled basketry stands out for the jungle hues that define her surroundings.

She speaks proudly of her Curripako weaving tradition and praises her mother, Carolina Yavinape—herself a master craftswoman, nearly 90 years old, whose skillful hands still astonish. Yet, as Griselda points out, one need only look around at Curripako women—healthy, vital, long-lived, and hardworking—to see her mother not as an exception but as part of a lineage of resilience. Even so, she does not take this for granted. Griselda celebrates Doña Carolina’s life and treasures the privilege of learning from her wisdom and sharing her help in the workshop. She cannot help but sigh when remembering her beginnings, for they bring to mind her brother Alirio, bearer of the Da Silva name, who was determined to carry the family workshop forward. The men carved palosangre drums and every kind of wooden artifacts, as taught by their father Tulio, while the women wove chiquichiqui baskets for every household need. Once he had engaged the entire family in the craft and artisanal work finally seemed like a sustainable way of life, Alirio died unexpectedly—during open-heart surgery, at just 30 years old. His loss broke their momentum and left behind unbearable grief.

It was in this moment of mourning that Elsa Victoria Duarte, a designer from Artesanías de Colombia, arrived in Guainía to teach courses on improving artisanal processes and natural dyeing, more than twenty years ago. Work and vocation, however, can also be ways of grieving and honoring memory. That is what Griselda did: after shaking off her sorrow, she resolved not to let her brother’s echo vanish from the sounds of the forest. She picked up the fibers and wove without rest, until her craft reached the mastery the designers asked of her. Later, new design brigades would arrive, this time led by Nydia Castellanos, and together they deepened their experiments with plant-based natural dyes. It was there, for example, that they perfected dyeing with annatto, boiling it long enough for its rich red pigment to fully penetrate the fibers and, with the right mordant, fix the color. They also discovered a beautiful pink using the bark of a tree—“a stick,” as Griselda calls it.

Through this mastery of color, Griselda has been able to innovate. Today, her coiled discs and stunning baskets stand out for their lush palette, inviting anyone to take home a small piece of the forest. Perhaps the most moving part is hearing her describe how the designs from her workshop follow no set pattern: they emerge from her mother’s imagination, from dreams filled with colors and shapes that later find form in their crafts. Surely it is also a whisper from Alirio, who, deep within the forest, remains alive in the hearts of this family that remembers him every day of their lives.