Our Artists
Getting to know a new artist takes time. A first trip opens conversations and gives us a feel for a country's living traditions. Then comes a longer visit — days or weeks at a time in each community, often staying with the artists themselves, learning their traditions and process.
We ask every artist about their work — what it means, who it belongs to, how it feels to share it with the wider world. The focus is always on preserving traditional meaning and process, whether that means reviving natural dyes or maintaining the storytelling embedded in ancient designs.
After that we visit every year or two, each time learning more about the art and the culture that created it. Some of these relationships have been years in the making — earning the trust of the Wayuu weavers of La Guajira took three trips over three years before we were welcomed into the community. These are not relationships we’re in a hurry with.
Our Mission
We want to help the world’s great traditions thrive in the modern world. Too often, progress presents itself as a choice between tradition and modernity.
We seek to offer an alternative where artisans can easily share the heritage and mastery of their crafts with the global market.
Our Origins
In 2010 I dropped out of college, hopped on a bicycle, and headed south. Nine months of biking, boating, busing, hitchhiking, and trains later I found myself in Bogota, Colombia with little more than an expired debit card and some hard-earned perspective.
A lot has changed in the world since my first dive into the unknown. Some of this change has been for the better, but with it has come an oppressive sameness. Languages are lost, traditional houses become cinder-block, and ancestral crafts are forgotten.
First as a traveler and later as a student of international development, I struggled with the paradox of killing what I loved. People everywhere deserve the wealth and benefits of the modern world, but those gains often force them to leave behind parts of their culture. In the rush for modernity, cheap imports win out while the quality and history of traditional arts are undervalued. By the time a country has become wealthy and begins to value these, it is often too late.
My goal is to offer an alternative.
By connecting traditional artisans with American consumers we can bridge this gap. Giving artists a steady stream of income and paying them for the high quality of their work allows them to keep their traditions alive and shows new generations that there is a future in their history.
In the Media
Carlton’s transition from backpacking wanderlust to entrepreneur
Winding up at a funeral with Colombia's desert nomads.
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