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As the current crisis has unraveled, so have the working patterns that make up our in-house production. On Friday January 29th another 100% lockdown was declared in Peru and we were forced to shutdown our workshop and send all the work to our artisans homes.Our office staff will stay home through February 19th. As a consequence our first week of February cargo is grounded through after February 25th 2021One more struggle in the darkness of this difficult situation that we know our resilient arti …

Artisanal craftsmanship is intertwined within the fabric of Peru, with the tradition of weaving stretching back 5,000 years, from the coastal cities of Paracas and Nazca, to the high Andean peaks of Cusco and Ayacucho.This rich heritage will not protect itself, however, as it is vulnerable, as every consumer industry is, to losing a demand and thus not being able to support the supply.The first point to tackle this issue, of generating popularity amongst a largely unknown source of fashion in we …

The current virus lockdown has been hard for everyone, but particularly hard for Mexico’s artisans.The classic way to sell handcrafts is through street and market vending. While there have been efforts by government and private organizations to take this to the next level, success has been sporadic at best.Today, artisans face an unprecedented situation, perhaps even catastrophe. “Non-essential businesses” are shut, tourism is dead and street traffic is nil, eliminating venues that artisans rely …

What we can learn from the world’s independent makers, and why preserving these ways of working means sowing the seeds for better systems going forward.The onset of COVID-19 prompted billions of workers to shift their work life to their home offices for the first time, introducing a new working style. Yet as a large part of society globally faces this apparently radical and sudden shift in how we live and work, we must remember that home-based work has existed in emerging economies, and right he …

For the last 20 years we have provided fair wages and sustainable employment for skilled artisans in our workshop in Peru. Over 63 families enjoy full time well remunerated employment that allows them to provide for their children and themselves. Long term relationships have been established with families working in rural areas of the Andes allowing them to work from their villages and ensuring sustainable employment and a marketplace for their fine skilled crafts. As a small organization we …