Why We Built Wakan Wasi Ñuke
This vision has been with us for years, just in different forms.
Before Wakan Wasi Ñuke had a name, it lived in other spaces:
In a small-scale online store Luke once ran to support Indigenous crafts…
In a physical storefront Javi tended in Chile, rooted in her own ancestral connection to the land and her people.
What was born on the road, in the mountains of Peru, in the rhythm of ceremony, in late-night talks… was not a new idea…
But the moment of convergence.
A shared decision to weave it together.
To take what each of us had been carrying in our own way, and build something with both hands, both hearts, and one clear prayer.
From Vision to Foundation
While we were travelling through the Andes, we asked ourselves the deeper questions. Not just about what we wanted to offer - but how we wanted to live.
We’ve both walked the path of service for years. Ceremony. Community. Prayer.
But between travels and offerings, we found ourselves in a pattern of starting over - save, travel, serve, return, repeat.
What we dreamt up in Peru wasn’t just a store.
It was a foundation.
A way to support the communities we love while also supporting ourselves - sustainably, intentionally, and in right relationship.
A Bridge of Integrity
There are many shops selling “sacred items.”
But very few can tell you whose hands made them.
Very few can tell you where the money actually goes.
Very few can say, with full integrity: this was made in love, not exploitation.
That’s why we created Wakan Wasi Ñuke.
To be the bridge, not the extractor.
To make sure that the people behind the work are known, seen, and properly paid.
To create a space where a customer doesn’t just buy something - they receive something.
A piece of lineage. A woven prayer. An expression of someone’s heart.
Questions That Shaped Us
We didn’t rush into it.
There were questions that held us accountable:
What products do we actually want to carry?
What cultures do we have real connection with and can honour with integrity?
With so many lineages involved… what name could possibly hold this?
These questions didn’t delay us. They deepened us.
The name came: Wakan Wasi Ñuke - The Sacred Home of the Mother.
It honours both the home we build through relationship, and the greater home we all belong to - Ñuke Mapu, Mother Earth.
When You Receive Something From Us…
We want you to feel it.
Not just admire it. Not just display it.
Feel it.
That what you’re holding is not just an item - it’s part of a lineage.
It’s been chosen with care, touched by real hands, and offered in Ayni - sacred reciprocity.
That by supporting this work, you matter.
You make a real difference in the lives of the artisans.
You help keep something ancient alive.
This store isn’t just a marketplace.
It’s a prayer.
It’s a bridge.
It’s a remembering.