Meet The Makers
The story begins with relationship.
This store wasn’t built in a single moment.
It grew slowly, across continents, across years, across conversations.
For four years, the vision of Wakan Wasi Ñuke was forming on opposite sides of the world. Javi through her physical store in Chile. Luke holding the bones of a quiet online framework in Australia. The thread was there, but it wasn’t yet a full yes.
That came later.
In February 2025, we returned to Peru together and something shifted.
“This isn’t something to circle around.
It’s something to devote to.”
And that devotion didn’t begin with branding.
It began with people.
With sitting in homes.
With voice messages sent across mountains.
With watching hands weave wool, shape leather, carve wood… knowledge carried forward through lineage.
And now, a year later, writing this in March 2026, it’s locking into place with clarity.
The last year was intentionally quiet online.
Grassroots.
Ninety-eight percent in-person.
Relationship over reach.
Depth over visibility.
What began as a thread is now a commitment.
Wakan Wasi Ñuke is not simply a shop.
It is a bridge.
And this is where you meet the hands behind it.
The Faces Behind The Store
We don’t see ourselves as founders.
We see ourselves as stewards and students of tradition.
This store is part of our life design; a way of living in deeper alignment with ceremony, reciprocity, and relationship.
It feeds us not only through livelihood, but through continued connection to the people and places that shape this work.
Some of the most meaningful moments have happened not in markets, but on dirt floors. Sitting in Mami Benita’s home in the high Andes, listening as she shared the prayers woven into her textiles.
That level of care shapes everything we carry.
We are not here to only sell sacred objects.
We are here to honour the hands behind them and to walk carefully in the space between lineage and modern practice.
The Makers
Benita ~ Amaru Community, Sacred Valley, Peru
Benita’s presence is a prayer in itself, sweet, soft, and fully devoted to her craft. Her weaving isn’t separate from life. It is life. It’s part of her service, part of her family rhythm, part of the home she keeps.
We spoke with Benita for over six months, building a relationship through WhatsApp voice notes and receiving our first Chumpis from her with care. Then one day, while walking through the streets of Pisac, we saw a lady carrying many fabrics and heard a familiar voice. We turned, asked her name, and she smiled “Benita.” It was her. We embraced, knowing the threads were already woven between us.
Soon after, we visited her home. The energy there felt like stepping into an old memory, quiet, grounded, woven with warmth. We sat as she shared the significance behind her weavings: the stories in each symbol.
Benita creates Chumpis, ponchos, altar cloths, and other sacred textiles. Every piece carries her essence; humble, strong, and deeply rooted in the mountains that raised her as well as her lineage and connection to the Quechua speaking
Augusto ~ Cuzco, Peru
Augusto is a humble man with a quiet pride in his work. His leather craft is a family tradition, passed down and held with care. When we first came across his bags through a local retailer in Cusco, they were being sold at a high markup… beautiful, but distant. It wasn’t until we began custom ordering that we connected directly with Augusto himself.
That conversation changed everything.
We learned things that hadn’t been shared with us before, truths about the materials, the process, the story behind the work. What began as a transaction became a relationship. Instead of a filtered-down version of his craft, we were now walking directly with the maker.
Augusto came to meet us in person, hand-delivering his work and inviting us to visit his family’s workshop, an invitation we’ll honor in 2026.
His bags, made from high-quality leather are the most durable we’ve come across. From backpacks and side bags to medicine pouches and belt-worn pieces, each item carries sacred detail: the Chakana, symbols of Pachamama, stones hand-selected from Peruvian land.
We’re not just proud to carry his work. We’re proud to carry it honestly, in integrity with the man who makes it.
Adrian and Izabella ~ Pure Heart Alchemy Australia
Adrian’s plant creations have been in our orbit for over five years.
Three years ago, we finally met in person at a men’s retreat. What began as quiet curiosity became direct experience. We brought in six bottles of Medicina de Flores to test how our community would respond.
They moved quickly.
Since then, we’ve continued carrying a small collection, not as trend, but as relationship.
Pureheart Alchemy is the creative collaboration of Adrian Anteros and Izabella Floret, a partnership rooted in plant energetics, fragrance, and subtle alchemical practice.
Adrian’s work draws from decades of engaging with plant teachers across cultures, sitting in ceremony with Indigenous lineages and studying the energetic intelligence of botanicals. His approach is less about herbalism in the conventional sense and more about frequency, working with plants as conscious allies.
Izabella, artist and co-creator, brings a lifelong relationship with nature into the visual and energetic expression of the work. Her background in art, design, and plant study shapes the aesthetic and devotional quality of their creations.
Together, they craft flower essences, mists, and botanical blends that are designed to support emotional clarity, energetic refinement, and subtle alignment.
We carry Pureheart Alchemy because the work feels coherent, intentional, and alive.
Not mass produced. Not trend driven.
But carefully formulated and held with devotion.
Toribio ~ Cuzco, Peru
Toribio is not a maker in the conventional sense.
He is a keeper of medicine and tradition.
A Q’ero man from the high Andes of Peru, Toribio works with the ancient practices of his lineage: the medicine of Mama Coca, spiritual cleansings, initiations, and the sacred despacho offerings that continue to nourish the relationship between people and Pachamama.
We first connected with Toribio through our ceremonial family, Roots of the Earth, where he has been a respected presence at our Kiva gatherings for many years. Over time, that connection grew into something deeper; a friendship and guidance that continues to shape how we move in Peru.
Whenever we return to the Sacred Valley, one of our first visits is to sit with Toribio.
Sometimes it is for ceremony.
Sometimes simply for conversation.
Through his guidance we have been introduced to community markets that most travellers never see, places where Mamitas come down from their mountain communities before their textiles pass through the hands of middle vendors and retailers.
In these early morning exchanges, the work is still close to its origin.
It allows us to meet the weavers more directly, understand their stories, and offer a price that respects both the maker and the person who will eventually carry the piece.
Toribio’s support has helped us walk this path with greater integrity.
Not only connecting us to places and people we would never have found on our own, but reminding us that this work is not about collecting objects.
It is about relationship.
Relationship to land.
To lineage.
To the prayers that continue to live through these traditions.
While you won’t find Toribio’s name attached to a textile or a bag in this store, his presence is woven quietly through much of what we are able to bring here.
And for that, we carry deep gratitude.
The Values of Wakan Wasi Nuke
🌿 Ayni;
Sacred Reciprocity
In nature, everything gives and receives in balance. The rivers flow, the roots feed the soil, the sun rises again. Ayni is that sacred rhythm… The Quechua principle of reciprocity that exists not just in trade, but in relationship, energy, and integrity.
We carry this through every part of the store: how we speak with the artisans, how we purchase their work, how we price it, and how we offer it to you. It’s not just about what’s fair, it’s about what’s right. When you receive something from Wakan Wasi Ñuke, you’re stepping into that circle too.
🌀 Wocekiye
Life as Prayer
Wocekiye is the Lakota word for prayer; but it’s more than spoken words or ritual moments. It’s a way of living. A way of relating. A way of remembering that life itself is ceremony.
Everything we offer here carries that energy. From the hands of the makers to the path it takes to reach you, there’s reverence in the process. We don’t work with mass production, imitation, or appropriation. We work in prayer and we invite you to receive in that same spirit.
🌎 Ñuke Mapu Earth as Living Mother
Ñuke Mapu means Mother Earth,not as an idea, but as a living, breathing being. She is the foundation of everything we do. When we see the earth as sacred, our choices shift. We move with care. We walk with respect.
This value lives in how we source - slowly, seasonally, and sustainably. It lives in how we honor the land each maker comes from. And it lives in the quiet reminder that every offering in this store began as something given by the earth herself.