Artisans

There are 14 artisans.

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  Wayuu Indigenous

  Wayuu Indigenous live in the furthest North of Colombia, the Peninsula of La Guajira. More than three parts are desert, hard conditions to cultivate any crops or cattle or to have the day by day necesary water supply. Away from central goverment the indigenous Wayuu struggle  in their poverty but they got one resource that help them to provide for their families. The beauty of their hand woven handicrafts give them the hope to keep living in the lands where they belong to and to teach their youth why Wayuu people are so resilient,  brave and overall incredibly creative and skilled. Amongst their work are the renown Mochilas Wayuu in plain colours or geometrical patterns, chinchorros (finest handcrocheted hammock with fringes and designs), belts and accesories.

  By purchasing one Wayuu handicraft you will directly contribute to the cultural heritage they want to keep and the needed income for their families plus a unique piece of art.

  Wayúu families are organised into clans and unlike most societies, the Wayúu family is matrilineal. That is the Wayúu children bear their mother’s last name.

  For the Wayúu people, knowing how to weave is a symbol of creativity, intelligence and wisdom. It is a practice passed on from one generation to the next. Guajira women learn how to make bags (called Susu in the Wayunaiki language) during puberty. This time is called “Blanqueo”(whitening period) by the Wayúu. During this time, Wayúu women can only be around their female relatives who teach them all the duties and social behaviour that a Wayúu woman must possess.

  For the most part, the designs are patterns of geometrical shapes. Each bag is made by one woman; therefore each design is one of a kind. Weaving these bags is an arduous work. It takes a Guajira woman about 20 eight-hour-days to complete just one bag. Their mythology tells how Waleker (“Spider” in Wayunaiki the Wayuu language) taught the women how to weave in a remarkable tale Koguis is very focused in helping a group of Indigenous Wayúu who now live as refugees in Bogota because the hostile situation in their home place in Guajira. and a little school for Wayuu girls who learn the art of weaving from their Wayuu teacher Eudoxia.

   

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  Women Artisans from Bogota, Colombia

  This is a group of women from the South of Bogota, capital of Colombia (one of the poorest parts). They are women of poor background and often mothers head of families who work the tagua jewellery. They have been learnt the dying process and the jewellery assembling. It gives to them a fair and economical opportunity in order to provide for their families.

  Also all the locals on the Choco rainforest benefit from the recollection of the Tagua fruits.

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  Wounan-Embera Indigenous

  Werregue is the fiber of a 20 to 30 meters tall palm in the Colombian rainfoirest. The wounan-embera communities have mastered the work of this elegant fiber which makes one of the finest handcrafts from Colombia. See more info in our artisans section.

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  Yolanda Marquez

  The first time I met Yolanda I asked her if she was in any way related to the Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez and her reply was “Maybe. You know these families are big all over the coast.” She certainly looks like him. Yolanda is a native of Sucre Department in North Colombia near the Caribbean coast. She is a master weaver of hand looms. These days she more supervises and guides with her experience her colleagues's work. Her hometown is renowned for its excellent and high quality weaving work. This comes from Indigenous heritage from the Caribes, civilisation group who lived in the North of Colombia. They belonged to the Caribbean linguistic family as the Muiscas group. Morroa is called the “the cultural loom of the savannahs of eastern Colombia”. Yolanda supplies us with superb hammocks and handbags from the same dense cotton fabrics. The hammocks are considered Morroa´s traditional identity. Koguis is very proud to sponsor Yolanda's work ,and the weavers, who are all women, for them to have the chance to survive from their work and crafts.

   

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  Zenu Indigenous /Leather artisans

  With the purchase of this product you are directly supporting the work of the 22 Indigenous Zenues families on the region of Sampues Sucre in Colombia. For them the braiding technique of canaflecha handicrafts are the main source of income for their families besides agriculture. .Around 2000 years ago the plains on the Colombian Caribbean where inhabited by the Zenu Indigenous people who shared the concepts of looking after the resources nature provided and the life and death philosophies. Around the XVI century their works of goldsmithing, metals and pottery were as a high quality as theirs antecesors, witnesses facts of their strong cultural traditions.This days the Zenu continue their traditional legacy mainly with cana flecha handicraft. This ones come from the fiber of a palm tree that grows at the edges of the rivers and swamps of the Atlantic coast. This natural fiber is transformed into a black and white naturally dyed fibers that braided by a traditional Zenu' technique that dates back more than one thousand years elaborates pieces of inmense work and stunning beauty.The different braids represent elements of their theory of the origin and evolution of the universe. Thanks for choosing Fairtrade and Colombian hand made handicrafts

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