Angel with Flowers

Costa Rican artisan Blanca Padilla designs and handcrafts this lovely angel out of fiber extracted from cabuya, a succulent that looks similar to agave. The cabuya fiber is a beautiful creamy antique white, and the artisan works with its natural texture to from the features of the angel. Gold thread is woven with the cabuya to accent the angel's halo and the hem of her gown, and she carries a lovely bouquet of paper and natural dried flowers in red, yellow, and green.

The art and skill of creating handicrafts from cabuya has been handed down through Blanca Padilla's family for generations. The artisan sources her material herself, growing and harvesting the cabuya, extracting the fiber, and preparing it for use in the handicrafts. Blanca Padilla hopes to help revitalize the cabuya craft industry with the success of her designs.