Mola Kuna Collective Store

A Panama City storefront for eighteen mola makers from Guna Yala, selling finished panels and the blouses, cushions and framed pieces made from them. Everything is catalogued by island and by maker, and where the family knows the date a panel was sewn it goes on the label — some of the older pieces in the case are from the 1970s and are priced accordingly. Nothing in the shop is machine-appliquéd, and the tag will tell you how long a panel took: a dense four-layer piece is genuinely four months of evenings. The staff will explain what the pattern means if the maker wanted that shared, and will say so plainly when she did not. Ships worldwide from Panamá with a certificate naming the maker.