Like many Saraguro women from the Andean highlands of southern Ecuador, Laura learned bead jewelry making – along with the traditional arts of rug weaving, embroidery and sewing – from her artisan parents. Without written instructions, she and the other Saraguro women of her cooperative weave collars, earrings, bracelets and rings with complex patterns that express the figures of their daily life:  foliage, flowers, fruit, waterfalls, snails, insects, etc. They also weave intricate geometric shapes including triangles, diamonds and rhomboids, whose dramatic colors are often graded to shift from bright to subtle shades.

In 2010, the local bead weaving cooperative to which Laura belongs joined with four other cooperatives to form La Mega Cooperativa de Saraguro as a way to increase their productivity and quality control for an increasingly international clientele – including the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. For Laura, a large part of her family’s annual income comes from the sale of the artisan work she performs, both bead weaving and embroidery, plus the sale of wool she hand spins and decoration of women’s underskirts with beaded bands. Since both she and her husband have a university education, they also supplement their income helping community members with writing tasks such as grant proposals.