About Us

Welcome to Patrimonio! 

We have been collecting Guatemalan textiles for almost 40 years, starting in 1983.  Interestingly enough, it all started in San Francisco, California when we stumbled across a store named, “Guatemalan for Now” in the small northern California town of Ft. Bragg.  It was an odd place for a store with such specific textiles and inventory.  At the time we were living and working in San Francisco.

Marilyn Perez was the owner of the store, a Jewish woman married to an indigenous Guatemalan, who made trips back and forth to Guatemala to buy old, collectible textiles and had new clothes made from the rich and colorful textiles available.  We bought our first Guatemalan pieces from her.  At the time another close friend of ours, Maggie Brosnan, an artist and art educator at De Anza College, taught us the basics of weaving and shared with us her books and her love of Guatemala textiles.  With these great influences we were hooked!   

Despite our love for Guatemalan textiles it took us 16 years before we actually took a trip to Guatemala in 2003.  We immediately fell in love with the country and especially the old colonial city of Antigua and made plans to start building a house there the following year.  We moved to Antigua in 2006 and have lived here ever since.

Over the years we purchased the majority of our textiles through Dona Petronila Mendez, famous throughout Guatemala as a major source of textiles for collectors and Don Sebastian Guarcas, also well known for scouring the country for special ceremonial pieces.  Additionally, we have purchased many rare and beautiful pieces from other vendors throughout Guatemala.  As previous art gallery owners for 10 years in Hawaii, our collecting has not just been limited to textiles and includes Guatemalan ceramics, jewelry and other handmade works of art.  It is now time to share our vast collection with fellow collectors and others who are interested in the beautiful handmade object.  

We hope you find something you like!  With warmest regards,

Thomas Tierney and Paul Sakai