All life forms are entangled in symbiotic, multispecies relations that actively sustain ecosystems under threat. At times, humans become part of these entanglements, especially through collaborations with nonhuman beings, that require ecological literacy, situated care, and reciprocity—the ability to give as well as to receive.
In this context of ecological urgency, Weaving as Worlding Practices with Earth Beings (WeB)—Tejiendo con Seres de la Tierra—explores co-creation across two communities: the I.N.S.E.C.T. Community, a collective of Western scholars, artists, designers, and biologists; and the Sarayaku people, an Indigenous nation in the Ecuadorian Amazon, including the Samaruta youth and the Kuriñampi women’s collective. Both engage in craft and design practices that challenge extractive notions of bioinspiration.
In the Pastaza region, Kuriñampi work with mangallpa (river clay) to create organic ceramic vessels like mukawa(drinking bowls) and tinajas (fermentation jars). Samaruta men use native liana in triaxial weaving to craft baskets, while the youth are known for environmental and cultural activism. Meanwhile, I.N.S.E.C.T. members gather annually in Hvalsø, Denmark, for a summercamp where one core activity is the practice of “critical making” focused on insect ecologies.
Together, we ask how reciprocity—giving to and receiving from other organisms—varies across geographic, political, spiritual, cultural, and ecological contexts. Through shared attention to local bees (mishki), particularly Tetragonisca angustula (chullimpi), we explore the ethics and aesthetics of multispecies gifting through the biohybrid design of bee shelters—mishki wasi.
As the three WeB researchers, we visited Sarayaku and introduced early artefacts initially called Mukawa Wasi—open-ended, more-than-human interfaces crafted from 3D-printed clay and biopolymers in Graz, Austria, and Quito, Ecuador. These shelters served as starting points for dialogue around chullimpi nesting. The artefacts served as invitations—inviting craftspeople to adapt and extend them using local techniques; inviting bees, microbes, and plants to inhabit them; and inviting Kawsak Sacha—the Living Forest—to respond in its own time and form. We also integrate vibration sensors, building on prior work by one of our collaborators who explored sound-based storytelling with ants, to attune more closely to the subtle life signs of bees.
WeB aims to weave institutional, scientific, and community alliances through shared learning and multispecies care. Social insects like bees and ants, as ecological indicators, guide our practices of cohabitation and knowledge exchange. By centering Sarayaku knowledge and biocentric values, WeB repositions Western design as a reciprocal, tactile practice—of listening, learning, and gifting.
