All I Want For Christmas Are Tivichis

A stuffed toy invented in Oaxaca became the focal point of our kid-centered shopping

A few days ago we packed our bags, gave our dogs a hug, and flew back to the U.S. from Oaxaca.

Being frequent travelers who live in another country there is, I think, an expectation that our gifts will be both thoughtful and interesting, and gift giving is a responsibility I take very seriously. I come from a family of great gift givers, where gifts are thoughtful, often practical, and also abundant. It’s something I try to emulate. So when the time arose for us to buy gifts for our friends, family, and loved ones, we immediately knew we wanted to buy Tivichis.

Tivichis are the invention of Textilera del Manantial, a shop in a small town called Pueblo Nuevo that has a few weavers in it. While Teotitlán del Valle, which lies east of Oaxaca de Juárez, is famed for its rug weavers, Pueblo Nuevo specializes in textiles like blankets, napkins, scarves, and shirts. And, in the case of just one shop, tivichis, stuffed animals which, in certain sizes, also turn into pillows.

People often ask us what it was that brought us to Oaxaca and the answer, as you might expect, is complex. And while the answer wasn’t “because all the stuff for sale here is absolutely incredible” I know myself well enough to be able to say with honesty that it wasn’t not about the stuff.

Oaxaca’s crafts are incredible, truly world class if you know which artisans and communities to visit. Tivichis aren’t quite at that level. Nobody’s going to put a tivichi into a museum display as a prime example of traditional, high-quality folk art. But tivichis are adorable and we were told they help to give the children who sleep with them good dreams.

Buying tivichis is also interesting because they’re made literally on-site. When you visit the showroom, a nice space on a dusty hill which overlooks the bustling, working-class town of Viguera, you’re beset by the clacking of hand-powered wooden looms which sit both underneath the showroom, in the basement, and on the level above the showroom as well.

A trip to the basement reveals young men, some still clearly in their teenage years, cranking away on the looms while listening to music via a bluetooth speaker. When we visited with Penny, who first introduced us to both Pueblo Nuevo and the shop itself, they told her it takes them about an hour to make a blanket large enough for a queen-size mattress.

The tivichis are made by hand as well, with cloth made on these same looms. From what we can tell they’re also an original creation of the shop, both made here and the intellectual property of this business.

All told, eight kids in the United States will be receiving tivichis from us on this trip, and our luggage was, no pun intended, stuffed with them. The toys are lovely, the type of thing I would absolutely buy for my own kids, if I had any. Hopefully they’ll bring with them sweet dreams from southern Mexico.

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