STORY AND PHOTOS by JARRETT BAKER
It is just after 6 a.m., and Miguel can’t find his keys.
He searches by the front door. Nothing.
He looks in the hallway. Nothing.
Finally, he finds them – in the bedroom – and he descends 22 steps to open the family woodcarving shop.
Miguel is one of three Fuentes brothers who carve wood in this shop on Sucre Street in San Antonio de Ibarra, an Ecuadorian highland town famous for woodcarving. Each morning he unlocks the unpolished shop, located across from the aging soccer stadium that will soon become a park, and each night he locks it.
In this small Ecuadorian community about two hours north of Quito, the Fuentes brothers are unique. Most carvers here work independently, in small shops or back rooms, and take their wares to a store at the main square. If the goods sell, the carvers get paid.
Instead, the Fuentes brothers’ shop functions much like a medium-sized small business. Miguel, 43, his older brother, David, 47, and younger brother, Telmo, 41, work with several other hired hands and cousins. Their shop is about 1,200 square feet, and they take orders from churches and other clients.
They are paid when a project is finished and delivered.
Working together is the backbone of the brothers’ success, Miguel says. At one point, the brothers started and finished their own pieces. But when they started receiving large orders, David, Miguel and Telmo created a small assembly line.
“It was a matter of personal appreciation,” David says. “One said ‘I like doing this part.’ The other said, ‘I like doing this.’”
Thus, Telmo begins each piece by removing bulky excess and providing the general shape.
David touches the work second. He focuses on proportions and tries to give balance to the different masses in the piece.
Miguel finishes each piece, adding details and facial expressions.
“I wouldn’t have been able to get what I have if I had worked by myself,” Miguel says, “because I probably would have been absorbed by the big business people.”
He started working with wood when he was 10. His father was a farmer, and providing for nine children was difficult.
Miguel was sent to the shop of his uncle, José Terán, where he was taught the art of wood carving. At first, he gave his earnings to his dad, who would buy him clothing and other necessities.
Eventually, Miguel was able to support himself through carving. After the brothers started working in the shop on Sucre Street, about 15 years ago, Miguel moved into a three-bedroom apartment above the business, where he still lives with his family.
While toilsome, woodcarving is not back-breaking work.
“I like doing this because I’m out of the sunlight and share time with my family,” he says.
Scattered about his long, narrow work bench are more than 100 chisels. Some, like the straight chisels, are used for carving lines. Others, like the concaved ones, are used to create grooves that can become ears or ruffles in a robe.
Nearby, a doll lays face down amongst some carvings in progress. As Miguel’s wife, Ximena, applies gold leaf to a carved, wooden frame, a small girl with dark, shoulder-length hair wanders into the shop. She makes her way to the man and clings to his pant leg.
It’s his 3-year-old daughter, Eliana.
“Working where I live is the best thing that could’ve happened to me,” Miguel says. “Being close to my wife and children is what makes me happy while I’m working.”
While his vocation provides for a stable family life, Fuentes says he does not like the monotony of his work. During the day, he works downstairs. In the afternoons and evenings, Fuentes is upstairs with his family.
“We can’t leave our profession,” David says. “Even when we’re out of the shop, our heads are in the shop.”