Jimena Muñiz-Garreta / SIQUICHA - PERU
“Jimena is a Costa Rican artisanal fashion designer based in Perú. She is the founder and creative director of the brand, SIQUICHA, which specializes in transforming artisanal fabrics into timeless garments.
In 2023, Jimena paused her career in corporate consulting in New York City to volunteer in Perú. She dedicated the next 2 years to living in San Miguel, Cajamarca, a small village in the Andes. While exploring the mountaintops, she spotted women tethered to threads that were meters long, weaving intricate textiles. Her curiosity led her to their homes, where she sat with them and learned to weave. Once connected to the loom, it activated her mission: to bridge this craft to the western world that she had lived in previously, while implementing the sustainable business models that she was trained in as a corporate consultant. And thus, SIQUICHA was born.
While Jimena did not receive formal fashion training, she proudly wears her field training as the blueprint for everything that she has created. Her immersion in the Andean community served as an experiential masters in artisanal craft that taught her to be a weaver, not just a designer.
She will be debuting her collection, 'Braided', at XTANT's 2026 NOMAD, which was co-created with 20 artisan women. This collection pays tribute to tradition through the 4-strand braid, a motif that the artisans of San Miguel de Pallaques use to line the edges of their saddlebags (alforjas). The braid becomes both a symbol and a signature.
Slipping into a piece from The Braided Collection should feel like being swept up in alchemy, the transformation of thread into garment, of history into contemporary.”
- @siquicha_