IPA

Extraordinary as works of art and decoration, these masks come from the Shamanic beliefs and rituals of the Central American Indians from the Wounaans and Emberas tribes.

The Indians divide the world in two, a visible world and a parallel world which is invisible.

These invisible spirits “haï“ are found in nature, in animals or in plants. “ The great superiority of this parallel world, this universe of shadows, is that they can see man while man cannot see them “ wrote Jean-Marie Le Clézio.

Through the Shamans, they come into contact with the “ haï“ spirits of Nature.

The mask or “ nemboro “ allows the Shaman, during the ritual, to take on the appearance of a spirit from the invisible world and enter into communication with this world.

After use, the mask which has “danced“ will be destroyed because it remains “charged“ and only the Shaman is allowed to touch it. And so there are no previous examples of these masks in existence.

Our masks are traditionally made for rituals.

They are made from palm leaves harvested from the forest, from a variety of palm called the Chunga. The softer parts are removed first. They are dried, bleached and wound into skeins. 

The dried palm leaves are then dyed with natural dyes made from fruit pulp, wood chips, seeds, leaves or roots. They may need to be dipped several times in the dye.

After this long preparatory work, each craftswoman begins her fabulous creative work, which, alongside her great artistic sense, also requires the deep, incomparable know-how held only by the women of these tribes.

Our pieces are made from natural palm leaves dyed with vegetable dyes.

Masks should not be exposed to rain.

Likewise, direct exposure to the sun may cause the colors to fade.

Over the years the colors may lighten noticeably if your mask is exposed to direct sunlight.