Meet the Artisan Women From Mexico Who Crocheted Their Way Into History and Into the Heart of Downtown Coral Gables

There is art you look at, and then there is art you walk beneath, tilt your head back for, and quietly feel grateful that someone had the vision and the patience to make it. "Cielo Tejido: A Woven Sky" is the second kind. On display at Giralda Plaza through July 31, 2026, this breathtaking overhead installation is made entirely of handwoven textile panels crocheted by artisan women from the small town of Etzatlán, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. It is colorful, immersive, and genuinely, indisputably magnificent. And the story behind it is even better than the installation itself.

From a Patron Saint's Feast Day to a Guinness World Record

The story of Cielo Tejido begins not in a gallery or an art studio, but in a town of 13,000 people in the highlands of Jalisco, with a mother and daughter who decided to turn their grief into something beautiful.
In 2015, veterinarian Lorena Ron and her mother, María Concepción "Paloma" Siordia, had each recently lost their husbands. Looking for a way to process their sadness and channel their energy, they turned to what they knew best: crochet. Paloma had long been the one who taught the women of Etzatlán to crochet, a craft she loved so deeply that her family had started gently suggesting she maybe branch out from scarves. Lorena saw an opportunity. Why not use that skill and that community to do something big?
The women of Etzatlán had been looking for a special way to celebrate their patron saint's feast day, held each October in honor of the Lord of Mercy. Inspired by a street in Tlaquepaque where colorful umbrellas had been suspended overhead in a canopy, Lorena and Paloma proposed something different: a canopy crocheted entirely by hand, made from synthetic raffia crafted from recycled plastic bottles, durable enough to hold up against the elements and vibrant enough to stop people in their tracks.
The first attempts didn't quite work. The canopy sagged. It wasn't smooth or tight. Then one of Lorena's brothers offered a simple suggestion: try hexagons. They did. And suddenly, the whole thing clicked. The hexagonal panels locked together into a structure that was taut, stunning, and unlike anything the town had ever seen.
The mayor took one look and immediately offered the city's support. Word spread. Women from across Etzatlán joined in. Soon 200 artisans were crocheting together, panel by panel, hexagon by hexagon, hour after hour, turning mountains of synthetic raffia into something that had never existed before.

By 2019, the canopy had grown to nearly 3,000 square meters. Someone suggested that might be a world record. Researchers discovered that Guinness had a category for crochet blankets, but not for an overhead canopy covering city streets. Guinness, recognizing the extraordinary nature of what these women had accomplished, created an entirely new category. On October 4, 2019, the Guinness World Record for the world's largest handmade crochet pavilion was officially awarded to María Concepción Siordia Godínez, Paloma herself, for a canopy measuring 2,832.98 square meters in Municipio Etzatlán, Jalisco, Mexico.

It had taken 200 women nearly 25,000 hours and 825 kilograms of raffia to crochet more than 8,000 hexagonal panels. The previous record for a woven canopy had been 1,000 square meters. They didn't just break it. They shattered it.

They Broke Their Own Record, Then Went to Dubai

If setting a Guinness World Record wasn't enough, the women of Etzatlán weren't done. By 2022, they had expanded the canopy to cover more than 9,000 square meters of their town's historic streets, breaking their own record in the process.

But perhaps the most extraordinary chapter in Cielo Tejido's story came when celebrated Mexican visual artist and sculptor Betsabeé Romero called Lorena Ron out of the blue. Ron thought it was a joke. She hung up and immediately sent her children to Google the woman's name. "Yes, she's real," they confirmed. Romero had been commissioned to create the Mexican Pavilion experience for Expo 2020 Dubai and had one vision: wrap the entire pavilion building in a crochet canopy from Etzatlán, representing "Mexican mothers hugging their country."

The artisans of Etzatlán, whose work had begun as a devotional gesture in a small Mexican town, were now representing their nation on one of the world's largest international stages. The foundation has since exhibited in museums and public spaces across the globe. Their philosophy, articulated by their founders and carried by every woman who has ever picked up a hook and a strand of raffia in Etzatlán, is simple: "United, we are stronger."

Why Cielo Tejido at Giralda Plaza Is Something You Need to See

The installation now transforming Giralda Plaza is the same collective, the same craft, and the same spirit that has captivated audiences from Jalisco to Dubai. Suspended above the pedestrian promenade on the 100 block of Giralda Avenue between Ponce de León Boulevard and Galiano Street, the handwoven panels sway gently in the South Florida breeze, casting moving shadows and shifting color across the plaza below. Morning light hits it differently than evening light. And after dark, illuminated against the Coral Gables sky, it is something else entirely.

This is part of the City of Coral Gables' 2026 Giralda Sky Series, a curated program of overhead art installations running from May through October. Cielo Tejido is the first installation, on view through July 31. It was made possible through the generous support of the Consulado General de México en Miami, the Mexican Cultural Institute Miami, and sponsor Ciudad Maderas, and represents a genuine act of cultural diplomacy: an invitation to look up, slow down, and appreciate work made entirely by human hands.

"Cielo Tejido is more than an art installation. It is a celebration of culture, community, and creativity," said Coral Gables City Manager Peter Iglesias. "We are proud to bring this vibrant experience to Giralda Plaza and continue building on the success of previous installations that have activated our downtown in meaningful ways."