Hola!

I have retuned to Mexico and Guatemala on a much briefer trip to try and develop the relationships with existing suppliers further.

The main suppliers and products I will be working on are:

A) Hand Painted Bowls and Trays with Augustine.

These have been a real sucess story at the shows and in private sales … it has become clear in the last year that this is a person and product line worth pursuing and investing in.

My goals with Augustine are: 

1) Currently Augustine and I are both small time traders and I want to talk with him about how much I believe in his product and that in order to make this trading relationship long term and sustainable we have to build it reasonably slowly and with strength. 

2) I want to visit the wood supplier in the mountains and talk about the importance of uniform size bowls for sale on the internet. I also want to see how the wood is treated.

3) My aim is to increase the volume and frequency of the orders. I want to intruduce Augustine to the idea of a rolling order .. e.g. every 4 months, so that he can plan his side the supply chain and manage his work load. I would like to be able to commit to this for at least the next 18 months. I want to ask Augustine about how he will manage the work load if it doubles within the next 18 months .. what are his plans for the future etc…

4) I will consider expanding the product range .. fo example including the fruit design for bowls and trays.

B) Silver Taxaco

Then to Taxco to re-order some Silver - in particular the increasilngly popular Stars or Estrella (in Spanish). More on this in a later post … I have placed the orders but collect in a month or so.

As a heads up .. I am very pleased with the new Star design … it´s a chunky smallish star but on a long chain so that it hangs mid-riff. Love that length!!

C) Hammocks

Considering the name of the company .. it really is about time that I included Hammocks in product range. Mexico Yucatean Hammocks are well known as some of the best in the world … (no one hangs in a hammock like a Mexican man!) … I started to investigate sourcing hammocks here last year and bought a few samples but had major issues in shipping them. Lessons learn´t, I will return and pursue.

Here are some of the designs being pursued:

  Mexican Fiesta Hammock

   Sea Breeze Hammock

I will also include some plain colours like red, green and blue.

These are string hammocks .. made of cotton and are extremely comfortable. I went to visit the place where they are made and was lucky enough to be able to film them at work .. so hopefully when I get back we will be able to put a bit of this video on the website. There are also clips of how to string up the hammock .. and even a Mexican man showing us how to a good position for a quality snooze!!

D) Kids Clothes Guatemala  

This is a product group that I really want to work hard on in this trip. I was not able to take this very far on the last trip .. so I anticipate that most of my time will be spent here. For those of you that have visited me on the market you may remember the funky kids dungarees …

        

Well, these are my inspiration .. I want to find some funky kids clothes that use traditionally woven and designed textiles but are made up into more commercial items for kids 6m´s - 4yrs. Not too hippy .. just cool with Guatemalan inspiration.  

More on this later …..

So .. here we go again !!

Hobo out.

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The woven textiles here are AMAZING …. I´m in love .. there are so many great colours and designs.

Weaving is a part of life for most women (i.e those still living in villages and not residing in the main cities) .. it is just part of their family role. Like just accross the border in Chiapas Mexico, most villages have their own type of style of paterrn on the weaving, and these partterns are used in their clothes (huipiles). It identifies where people are from.

The weavings that i have taken too are from the Todas Santos village that is near the Mexican border in the mountains. I have not been able to visit there yet (a tad difficult to get to and not too much time) .. but there are many examples of their work in the markets and there are families from this village that live in Antigua weaving and selling their work in the market.

One such lady is Marina (left) and her mother Candalaria:

  

Their tops are made out of the woven and embroidered material that the purses, cushion covers and cosmetic bags are based on. The skirts are usually the darker plainer ´Jaspe´material that are used for a lot of the backs or backgrounds of the products.

Here are some pictures of Marina weaving and embroidering a piece for a cushion cover for Happy-Hammock.

      

Here are some of the finshed product ….

        

Some great colours here … Red, Green, Blue, Purple & Turquoise.

Im not sure whether I will be able to sell these on line as each one may have the same base colour but the pattern of the stiching may be slightly different.

I attach a few more pictures of the stiching up close so that you can see the kind of work that goes into each one …

            

This is the back of one of the central pieces .. !

  Lots of work … the pattern is individually stiched into the weave.

As you know my aim is to find and develop products that use traditional techniques and materials to make commercial items for you … cushion covers here … but also they make cosmetic bags using the embroidered huipile design for pattern.

        

Nicely lined with 2 zipped pockets. great colours .. purple and red. Approx 20cm in length.

Another product made form the huipiles is purses of differnt sizes. Unfortunatley they are all different .. amazing but different .. so I will only be able to sell these directly or at one of my market stalls or events over the coming year.

Here are some pictures of the purses and the colours …

                         

It may be easier to see how extrodinary they are .. by looking at a few individually …

         

  

Pretty cool huh …. I´ve accumulated about 6 for myself so far ….

Happy Guatamalan Textile Hobo out

Happy Hammock has been very busy in Guatemala … starting to develop the kids clothes range …

The basic idea is to try and use tradionally woven materials with designs inspired by existing Guatemalan fabrics and then to turn these into cute little outfits and accessories suitable for your little ones.

Guatemalan fabrics are pretty amazing anyway .. so it wasn´t hard to find inspiration. Here are some pictures of women carrying children on their backs in the traditional way …

                             

The fabrics they use are amazing … but also the method seems totally practical, leaving their hands free, and often a sleeping baby content to go and do whatever their busy mother needs to.   

We have decided to try a range of these types of accessories, including the baby sling, which conveniently comes with an instruction manual showing you the ways that the fabric can be tied and how you can carry your infant. The colours that will be available are a red stripe and a blue/turquoise stripe….. the product range also includes matching booties (!) and a matching baby changing mat which conventiently folds up to a handy size.

More pictures to follow .. so watch out Happy Hammock friends with babies .. you will be our models for these products in England … the baby slings are amazing - I´m really excited about them.

We also happily discovered a man called Sebastian and his wife, Juana who are sourcing materials locally in fab colours and making up very cute little dresses and ´capuchas´or hoodies to you and me.

    Juana at their stall

   Dresses …     Sample dress in green.

    

Capucha´s as modelled by Sebastian´s son, Gerzon (2 1/2 yrs olds) .. although not too keenly!

       also modelled by Lourdes Garcia (age 4) 

Coming to Happy Hammock we have:

Dresses (design above) in Green, Red and Blue/Purple. The sizes are age 6m´s, 1-2yrs and 2-3yrs.

and;

Capuchas in the traditioanl dark blue ´Jaspe´(as above), also in Turquoise and Red (strippy design). Ages 1-2, 2-3 and 3-4.  

´Jaspe´is the most traditional design on material .. it is the design that most women use for their skirts.

Other dresses coming soon to Happy-Hammock are these below - they are beautifully made with great attention to detail including a little bow tie at the back above the clasp.

  Lourdes Garcia (4yrs in Green) and Melanie Reyes (2yrs in Pink)

   Melanie .. giving me her best pose! 

   Bow at the back and detail of the material

       Melanie in the blue dress .. front and back

3 colours available, Pink, Blue and Green - and in 2 sizes, ages 1-2 and 2-3. although the dresses are long so can easily extend up and age bracket as shown by Lourdes in the Green dress in the first picture.

As always we have also sourced some goods for the market stall .. and have managed to aquire more stock of the old favorite from last years markets … Hippy Dungarees .. and this year they come in dress form as well!!

      

We can not sell these on line because each pair is unique .. so only for the market stalls and events over the summer.

Anyway .. I hope you like so far … let me know your thoughts via the contacts page!

Happy Hobo out

 

 

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