Wakami

Wakami is a Guatemalan design brand founded in 2007 by the biologist and social entrepreneur María Pacheco, built around a network of rural artisans rather than a single workshop. Its handmade jewellery and accessories are made by women who own and run their own small businesses, combining ancestral Maya techniques, handwoven cotton on foot looms and jaspe dyeing with contemporary silhouettes.

The brand works with more than 2,000 women across 13 Guatemalan communities, sources materials through regenerative cultivation and describes every product as locally designed and made. Its Colección HILAR, developed with designers Ana Gabriela Samayoa and Alejandra Cabrera, appeared in the Guatemala Designs by Hand exhibition organised with INGUAT for Milan Design Week 2026, where textile experimentation sat next to jade and wood.