wonderful gift

Surprise your loved ones with this original greeting card or gift tag crafted with a pre-Hispanic motif in aluminium engraved by hand and featuring a lavender amate paper frame. A wonderful gift idea from Mexican artisan Margarita Revilla who takes inspiration from the beautiful quetzal, Guatemala's national bird that is also very common in Mexico and was revered as sacred by the Maya and Mexicas.

Crafted by members of the Lopez Garcia Family of Guatemala, these quitapenas dolls make a wonderful gift for friends or family that tells the recipient you care about their well-being and wish them the best. Quitapenas means "to remove worries" in Spanish; artisan Aura Lopez explains the Mayan worry doll tradition. "My grandparents said that the way to use them was to take the doll out of the bag or wooden box and tell it your problems and fears," she states. "Then, you place the doll under your pillow and, the next day, your problem becomes smaller or can be resolved." The set consists of two pairs of male and female worry dolls joined together by a red heart. Handmade, the dolls are dressed in vividly-colored traditional Guatemalan attire and arrive in a pouch of handwoven cotton fabric.

Crafted by members of the Lopez Garcia Family of Guatemala, this set of six quitapenas dolls makes a wonderful gift for friends or family that tells the recipient you care about their well-being and wish them the best. Quitapenas means "to remove worries" in Spanish; artisan Aura Lopez explains the Mayan worry doll tradition. "My grandparents said that the way to use them was to take the doll out of the bag or wooden box and tell it your problems and fears," she states. "Then, you place the doll under your pillow and, the next day, your problem becomes smaller or can be resolved." The set consists of three male and three female worry dolls each clasping a red heart to his or her chest and comes with a pouch made from loom-woven cotton. Handmade using tule wood, polyurethane, nylon stockings, kraft paper, and 100% cotton fabric, the dolls are dressed in vividly-colored traditional Guatemalan attire.

Peru's Zoila Davila designs this wonderful llama statuette, which is dressed in the colours of Christmas. The sculpture is formed from ceramic and carefully painted by hand in red, green and gold. The llama wears a traditional chullo hat and a blanket with Andean motifs.

Ana Maria Gonzalez decorates this wonderful jewellery box with an image of traditional Mexican Maria dolls using decoupage techniques. The jewellery box features a mirror on the lid and a rustic matte finish.

Handcrafted by Thai artisan Aunchalee Kaewduangtip, this tealight holder will make a charming addition to your home decor. The wonderfully tranquil elephant is brought to life after being molded, fired in the kiln, and hand-painted. A glistening glaze completes the design while hand-painted motifs add to the characteristic charm and enchantment.

With an inspiration to make her art accessible to all, artist Alejandra Aceves creates this wonderful mug. A print of one of her original signed paintings is applied to the side, for a refreshing change from that ho-hum mug. The painting features a man and woman in traditional Mexican costume performing a folkloric dance of the state of Jalisco.

One of the best ways to find peace is by traveling because you can discover wonderful places, new aspects of yourself and the tranquility of learning that your problems become small compared to the big, vast world. This is Peruvian artisan Kathiana Quispe's particular vision of what world peace means and she conveys it in this delightful leather passport cover that invites you to find your way to your next destination soon. Embellished with an acrylic Andean textile and the image of an introspective llama, the passport cover features two interior pockets to carry your documents safely.

This wonderful alebrije figurine is the original creation of Mexico's Claudio Ojeda. The Oaxacan artisan carves the howling wolf by hand from cedar wood, and then paints it by hand with colorful motifs. His tail is removed during shipping for safety.

The folk art tradition of alebrijes dates back to the 1930's in Mexico City. A man named Pedro Linares was taken ill, and in his fevered dreams he saw a strange land populated with curious creatures--a donkey with wings, a rooster with bull's horns, and a lion with the head of a dog. The beasts all ran at him, shouting "alebrije! alebrije!". Upon his recovery, Linares began recreating the fantastical creatures he had seen in his dream. The art form gained popularity, and alebrijes are now made of wood as well as papier mache. The same style of painting can also be found on other (non-animal) items.