It all started in 1977, when my parents decided to travel from Ann Arbor, Michigan, through Mexico and down to South America. The plan was to end up in Argentina. Along the way, they found themselves on Lake Atitlán in the Western Highlands of Guatemala and were completely enchanted. They ended up renting a little house in the Indigenous village of Santa Catarina Palopó on the shores of the lake, where they stayed for the rest of the summer. South America, it turned out, would have to wait.

I grew up in a home filled with the Guatemalan textiles they had collected on that first trip and on others that followed. Those textiles became part of the backdrop of my childhood, and, decades later, they would lead me back to Guatemala.

My love of textiles eventually found me gravitating toward those rich, colorful designs. I booked a trip to Guatemala to research traditional motifs and weaving methods, and soon thereafter, Archive New York was born.

Our design process begins by hunting down antique and increasingly rare fabric samples, particularly from regions where traditional weaving practices are becoming increasingly rare. We then connect with artisans in those communities to bring the designs back to life through traditional weaving techniques.

Our philosophy is to honor the integrity of Maya culture and textile heritage by carefully preserving the character of each original textile, pattern, and design, while committing ourselves to fair-trade principles.

I hope you enjoy our journey. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Amira Marion
Founder of Archive New York

About the Designer

Amira Marion was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She attended Parsons School of Design in New York and Paris. After graduating, she worked for John Patrick Organic and designed accessories for Madewell 1937 before returning to Paris to learn the language and begin researching a project that would eventually become Archive New York.