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Fique (Furcraea andina) is a perennial plant of the agave family, native to the Andean highlands of Colombia and neighbouring countries. Each plant grows a dense rosette of sword-shaped leaves, one to two meters long, thick and fleshy with a fibrous core. The fibers run in parallel bundles along the leaf’s length, protected within a matrix of moist tissue. Once mature, the leaves can be cut every four months, with the plant sending up new growth from its base, allowing repeated harvests for up to 80 years. The fibers are strong, coarse, and slightly waxy, resisting decay and moisture. They hold tension without breaking, making them ideal for building volumes, weaving, twisting, or being left loose.


These qualities have guided human relationships with fique for centuries. Indigenous communities cultivated the plant alongside food crops, integrating harvest and processing into seasonal cycles. The fiber’s strength made it ideal for nets, mochilas, sandals, belts, mats, and rope; its length and coarseness suited it for weaving into sacks or cordage. Its length and texture suited it for sacks and cordage that did not require spinning. In the late 19th century, with Colombia’s coffee industry expanding, fique became closely tied to the production of sacks for transporting beans. Industrial weaving looms produced coarse, stiff fabrics that were indispensable for export. This period cemented the plant’s economic importance but also reduced its role in everyday craft, narrowing the ways people related to it. By the mid-20th century, synthetic fibers began to replace fique, further weakening those traditional bonds.

Rosana Escobar’s relationship with fique began in 2019 with Unravelling the Coffee Bag. By dismantling discarded sacks, she studied the fiber strand by strand. The work highlighted not only the strength that made fique central to industry but also its overlooked beauty and sensitivity. Escobar began creating poufs, tapestries, and sculptural works that borrowed the densities of industrial use while allowing the fiber to remain freer, revealing qualities hidden by mass production. Her research led her back to the plant itself, working with Colombian farmers and handling fibers at different stages: wet and pliable straight from the leaf, sun-dried and brittle, loosely bundled or tightly coiled.

From these investigations, Escobar developed a practice that bridges traditional craft, industrial technique, and contemporary design. Her collectible pieces have been shown internationally, reintroducing fique into design discourse, while participatory projects such as her wig workshop in Bogotá invite others to wear, braid, and experiment with the fiber directly. Whether woven into structured forms or left to drift in looser states, fique in her hands becomes an active collaborator—carrying the weight of its history while opening new possibilities for connection between plant, maker, and community.