Sat 3rd Feb. Sue and I arrived in San Cristobal, Chiapas region (near the Guatemalan border) at the beginning of Feb. The town seems very nice, full of artisans and many different indigenous peoples from the surrounding mountains. I found a Co-Operative shop that was selling some amazing items, including some examples of the hand embroidered clothes I had seen in the market in Mexico City. The Co-Operative works in that it sells items from the different villages. it is a vehicle for them to sell their goods to tourists. Each village has its own traditional dress and artesan speciality, and a representative for the Co-Operative.

The Co-Operatives is called: Union Regional de Artesanas de Los Altos de Chiapas, S.C. de R.L.

Sue and I were lucky that there was a meeting of the different village represantives at the shop on the Saturday. We effectively gate crashed the meeting and were asked to address the group. At first this was pretty nerve wracking …. but Sue did a sterling job translating for me and interpreting my sentiments to the group. I communicated that I was sourcing artesans goods around the world to sell in the UK and that the ethics of where and how I was sourcing was very important. I said that I was impressed with the quailty of goods in the Co-Operative shop (which I was) and that I was interested in visiting their villages to take photos and learn about their traditional methods so that I could educate people in the UK via my website.

I think we both realised how extrodinarily lucky we were to catch the group of represenatives together. We were also lucky in that there was a Spanish woman called Isabel Boyer at the meeting. I believe she is working for the Spanish Government doing an Anthropological (sp?) study on these people. She communicated to the group and helped us to organise a schedule over the next 3 days of visiting c. 6 villages to lean about their different traditional techniques and what they produce. This would have been near impossible for us to do on our own. Firstly, we wouldn´t have known what villages to go to, and secondly if we had got to the villages, we wouldn´t have known where to go as all of these products are produced directly in peoples homes. Thirdly, we may not have been welcome just turning up in the villages, some of these people are intensly private peoples who do not take kindly to nosy foriegners, especially if they are taking photographs (something which I needed to do for the website).

Here are some pictures of that meeting. You can see the different styles of dress that the  women are wearing .. they all came from different villages.  

              

So the next 3 days were packed. Not sure what we´d find but exciting none the less.

Meetings with Villages.

1) Sun 4th Feb 07. Magdalenas Aldama village.

A remote village c. 2hours from San Cristobal into the mountains. When we arrived were were taken into someones house, a very simple room but with concrete floor, so one of the more affluent ones I think. Then c. 15 women all came in all in the same traditional dress specific to their village and peoples (thick wool skirts, red and white embroidered tops and ribbons in their hair for the older ladies) and again Sue spoke to the group on my behalf (well I spoke in English to her, she spoke in Spanish to the representative and he translated into the local language to them!). They also brought out some examples of their work … mostly hand woven clothes, that whilst nice, wouldn’t really sell easily in a Westernised culture. They sat intently looking at me .. staring .. all I could think was .. what the hell do they make of me? I got to ask them a few questions at the end .. I asked them what their hopes and dreams were … they looked bemused .. one of the older ladies said that she hoped that I would bring money to the village. My heart sank at this point … I desperatley want to be able to buy from these people but I can’t buy if they are not producing ’saleable’ items. I spent some time explaining my dilema to them, and used this extrodianary meeting as a first step in developing a relationship that ‘could’ in a few years yield something. I have asked them to use the traditional material they weave for their tops and make this into cushion covers. They also embroider their tops with the most wonderful traditional designs/logos in bright almost flourescent colours. I have asked them to incorporate this into their designs. We shall see how the samples come back and take it from there.

We were treated to being able to see them weave the cloth … they brought out their looms (back strap) and let us watch and take pictures. Amazingly lucky really. It all felt quite Nat Geo.

                 

After about an hours talking we were asked to join them for refreshment, which we happily accepted. Refreshment came in the form of a large crate of Coca Cola .. it seems no matter where you are in the world, and no matter how poor you are Coke is a necessity, it really is the most global brand. I watched breastfeeding mums take their babies off their breasts and litterally pour coke down their throats … i guess it’s a treat as its full of sugar. That said, the teeth situation is pretty bad. Here’s a great photo of them with the coke bottles and also one of the group as a whole including me and Sue.

           

2) Mon 5th May am, Bayerlemo Village

Much the same story as the first day, we were invited into the representatives home (Rosa) which was very simple and her group of women weavers was there sitting around the edges of the room with samples of their work waiting for us. Rosa had already put samples of the work up on the walls and on a string line, which was very helpful. Balyerlemo produced different goods to the first village, they were more focused on very detailed embroidered cushion covers. The also produced traditional clothing but the cushion covers were the most practical items that i could see. The detail really was amazing and it can take one wome over a week to make one (in between looking after the kids and taking car of the husband etc…). Also, the cloth has to be handwoven first by the traditional back-strap loom. So we were looking at truly hand made items and to a VERY high standard. I liked Rosa a lot, of all the village representatives she seemed the most ‘forward thinking’ and professional.

Here are some pictures of our meeting and the group.    

   (traditional loom again)

  Rosa on the left .. deep in discussion .. none of which I could understand, but it sounded interesting.

 The Bayerlemo group and me .. I seem huge in comparison to them!

I picked up my order from Rosa in April and was really pleased with what the group produced. It certainly wasn’t cheap from a wholesale point of view (as potentially people in the UK would assume) but the qulaity was excellent and it was exactly as I had ordered. The money will be distributed around many of the women in the group as it was a collaborative effort.

Here are some pictures of the cushion covers:

           They are quite smart and have a slight ‘Laura Ashely’ vibe to them .. could be good for as a present for a mother/in law or grandmother. Remember these are all hand stiched and the cloth is hand woven first! I have chosen colours that fit well together in sets.

I also got some kids tops made .. see what you think:  

           They are actually really funky and certainly different (ages 1 - 3). They would look sooo cool with a pair of jeans and I think would go down well with the mummies in the festival crowd.

Just amazing to think these have come all the way from the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico!

3) Tuesday 6th May. Huixtan Village  

I came here in search of some of the white embroidered Children’s tops.  

I found a small group of ladies, one of which had made the very top I was after (I had seen it in the Co-Operative shop) and had made it for her daughter who was also at the meeting. I asked her daughter to model it for me … see below. Her daughter’s name is ‘Flor de Maria’ .. so I have named the shirt after her.

Flor de Maria :  How cute! I wanted to kidnap her and take her home with me.

The pictures were so good that i placed an order for the group to copy the exact same shirt for sale in the UK (ages 1 - 4). Unfortunatley when I returned in April to collect the results were not so good. I have c. 8 pieces which I think are good, the rest are un-saleable. This was a classic example of having a product which has potential but these villagers really aren’t set up for any kind of mass production (and I only ordered c. 12!). They have very little understanding of sizes and can only make the goods in their free time. If something more important comes along then they have to drop their embroidery work. Hence it took c. 2 months to make c. 8 pieces. Not commercial at all … and this is the battle I fear they face if they want to make any money for their families doing this. Well decent money anyway, they sell the odd one to tourists now and then, but from the sounds of it not that many. The Co-Operative only pays them when an item has been sold and often the record keeping is so poor they often don’t actually know when an item has been sold. Tricky.  

Group meeting (everyone else is working whilst I swan around taking photos!):

Traditional dress .. check out the ribbons in her hair and the embroidery on their tops:

 

A good example of potential but nothing really coming of it. I have left it with them that this should be a learning experience and that they should consider working in larger groups with a ‘manager’ type person overseeing quality control. I think this may well have been a bit over their heads. These villages are relatively small and VERY traditional, they seem to resist the idea of joining other groups to make bigger production units because there are many old standing rivalries within the villages and they can’t countenance the idea of collaborating and working together. It’s very complicated …. ho hum … I may visit next year to see how they have come on and whether things have changed at all.  

3) Tuesday 6th May. Chamula

Now I understand why they wear these very thick wool skirts .. boy was it chilly, and when you live in a hut on a mountain side, with not necessarily even a cement floor, you need layers big time. I felt a bit silly in my flip flops.

These people produce wool goods .. using the wool they weave for their skirts. they are also famous for very intricate embroiderry. The goods here were lovely. Wool purses with bright embroiderry on and white kids tops with the same embroidery on. To embroider 1 kids top can take one person c. 10 hours. The colours are AMAZING .. soo vibrant. The work is so detailed.  

Talking and working away:   Spinning the wool :

Some examples of the goods:

       great little purses with strings for putting around your head over your shoulder .. lots of different sizes, I particulrily like the ones that are small, they are perfect for a night out as they fit your mobile and a credit card in perfectly .. how cool!

Lucas’s (the village represenative) son modelling one of the kids tops:

  he wasn’t too happy about it ! Maybe it wasn’t his style …

Grandma supervising the younger generation learning the trade:

I placed an order with them and collected in April and was really really pleased with what they produced. This was one of 2 deals that i think was a success (Bayerlemo being the other). The goods are salebale in the UK .. they are cool, funky and definately different and there is a great story because the money that I invested with them (c. $400) will go along way and will be distributed around the group as it was a collective effort. They were really happy and so was I.

At the end of the meeting they presented me with a gift .. an embroidered stuffed toy in the shape of a turtle … in their language it is called an ‘Ogg’. They wanted to show their appreciation and I was truly moved. Unf I can’t find my picture of him, so I will have to add that in later.

Conclusion:

I invested a lot of time in Chiapas and it was fascinating. From a purely commercial buyers perspective there is still a long (and I mean a LONG) way to go. These villagers dont have phones (and def no internet) and most of them dont speak Spanish (my Spanish isn’t too hot and their local languages and dialects are some of the strangest I have ever heard, funny but definaltely unusual).. so placing an order is a difficult and long winded process. Also, becasue of their traditions and their strong desires to maintain their traditional ways, goods are all hand made which from my point of view makes them a) expensive, b) the lead times are way too long and c) qulaity control can be an issue.

I am curious to see how people respond because I would love to continue my relationships with a few of these villages and develop something really special for Happy-Hammock that is unique and actually makes a difference. My gut feel is that this will take many years and a certain amount of investment (time and money). What the region could do with is some people time investment from an NGO type organisation .. teaching and educating them in adapting to more commercial ways … not losing traditions but adapting them.  

For my part, I have introduced the Co-Operative to an old Argentinian lady that I met in Nicaragua (Marta). She has been living in the mountains of Nicaragua for c. 20 years and is a weaver herself. She was employed by the government to help re-introduce weaving to a region that was all but erradicated during the war. She has taught them to change from the back strap loom to a pedal loom which is much faster and has also taught them about qulaity control and how to produce more ‘commercial’ items. I know that she intends to visit the Co-Operative in August and I await to hear back from her how this goes. It is a very very long process, I really can’t stress that enough, but maybe this is one small step to helping them to develop and grow so that these very poor people can start to bring more money into their villages.

Before I sign out I must say that none of this work would have been possible without Sue’s excellent translator skills or Isabel’s willingness to give of her own time to guide us and introduce us to these wonderfully fascinating people. A big thank you to them.

Enough from me … I could go on for hours on this. Time for a beer.

Hobo out.