Quintana Roo
Art and Culture
Quintana Roo uses its natural resources to great effect creating a wonderful
range of crafts of all shapes, colors and sizes. You’ll have a great
variety of arts and crafts to choose from on your trip to this beautiful
state!
The craft work that is most representative of Quintana Roo
is black coral jewelry, objects made of palm leaves, wood carvings
and embroidery.
Crafts made from plant fibers began in the 70’s when the state authorities brought a craftsman from the state of Querétaro to teach the inhabitants of Quintana Roo how to make many different products from plants. The popularity of these crafts increased over time, mainly in the Mayan community of Kopchen, located in the southern part of the Felipe Carrillo Puerto municipality. Those who make these crafts create many elaborate and innovative pieces from rattan.
Wood crafts are created using the branches of trees like ciricote, cedar and mahogany. The designs are usually focused on the Mayan culture and aspects of daily life.
The majority (75%) of craftsmen in the state work with textiles and tend to be women. Their most common crafts are hammocks and hipiles (embroidered dresses). In 1990, a program was developed with civil associations to modify the production techniques and to focus on the ecological aspects of their work to help diversify their production. Today, the craftsmen create clothing and other products using cotton as the raw material. These articles are embroidered by hand and machine to maintain their traditional look.
Quintana Roo has 860 km of coastal land, so it has an abundance of natural resources from the sea like shells and other materials. Initially these crafts were limited to collecting shells and gluing them together into shapes. Now, products like lamps, utensils and kitchen accessories are made from these materials. The shells of pink snails are also carved into reproductions of Mayan Gods.
Less well-known arts and crafts are made from materials found in the forest like gourds, guaje, nuts, coconuts and corozo among others. Although they are not regional crafts, objects made from metals and glass or a combination of the two can also be found in Quintana Roo.