His family has a long history as highly skilled artists. Jose’s mother was so well known and respected that her likeness is on the 25 Centavo coins in Guatemala today.

Jose began learning to weave, under his mother’s tutelage, when he was 13 years old. In his late teens he began weaving with beads and later became a founding “beader” in Santiago. He taught the art to others and is considered one of the driving forces behind this growing cottage industry. Skilled beaders are able to earn about 3 times more than they would by doing day labor work in neighboring and the effects on family health, education and so much more has been huge.

Jose’s work is unique and represents some of the finest bead work anywhere in the world. Each piece can take from one day to one week to create and no two are identical.