Expoartesanias: The Great Colombian Craft Fair
Every year, artisans from all around the country flock to Bogota to network and sell their goods during the month-long Expoartensanias just before Christmas. Locals and foreigners alike come to view and purchase handmade, artisanal goods of all shapes and sorts. It’s a giant whirlwind complete with Colombian food, music, and extravagant daily cultural displays..
This was our first year attending and we didn’t know what to expect. Our mission was to make new connections, reconnect with some of our partners, and discover new crafts; luckily, there was no shortage of any of those. There were eight hangars full of vendors that had journeyed from the Caribbean coast, Andean villages, the Guajira desert, and the Amazon rainforest - such a variety of regions and vendors meant a kaleidoscopic variety of crafts. Needless to say, we had a lot of ground to cover in just ten days. Among the crafts we saw were pottery from the coffee region of Antioquia, basketry from all over the country, textiles from Nobsa (a high-altitude town located north-east of Bogota), and shrines and totems from the western coastal Choco region.
The highlight of these trips are the people we get to meet - some of the Choco artisans invited us to visit their village, which is only accessible by river from the western coast. The hospitality of the Colombian people never disappoints. We also had the opportunity to reconnect with some of the artisans we had visited in previous trips - we hope to be bringing in some of their crafts (such as the highly sought after woven mochila bags from the Wayuu people) in the next couple of months.
We also got to catch up with one of the members of the Tres Palacios family, who are the expert silversmiths behind our filigree jewelry line. Their family has been making gorgeous silver filigree jewelry in their Mompox workshop for generations - keep an eye out for a video and future post about them and their process!
