According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) November 2024 Culture satellite account in Mexico, The gross domestic product in the cultural sector in 2023 was 820,963 million pesos, or 2.7% of the GDP in the entire Mexican economy. Most of this comes from craft sector, representing 19.1% of the total. Unfortunately, many craftsmen live in distant and isolated areas, filling poverty and instability. An Oaxaca collective, however, seeks to change this and provide craftsmen with the ability to live successful and worthy lives while helping their communities and preserving Aboriginal cultures.
By respecting a new life in traditional art forms, collective action can empower rural communities with lasting opportunities, while fueling local economies. Instead of leaving their homes in search of work, families can build flourishing livelihoods and preserve traditional culture, without having to look for work elsewhere.
Since April 2013, Maddalena Force and Ana Paula Fuentes, a pair of designers based in Oaxaca City, have worked on design projects to help the distant cities of the State by sharing their expertise on natural dye and the variations of textiles which arise from the use of the finer thread.
The “Weave a real peace” projectwhich emphasizes the quality of the product and responsible use of natural resources, has an impact on the environment as well as on the company. Fuentes describes their mission as “Facilitate inclusive design processes that weave people, ideas and entries around a shared vision ”, and the Foundation is now working with groups similar to Oaxaca.
Unlike the design of the brand, which leaves the designer’s personal brand on the final product, traditional craftsmanship help craftsmen, who are already experts in their field, to push their creativity to create pieces that they had not thought before and expand their personal work and their artistic vision.
For Fortella, provide a tool that allows them to express their creativity through apparently simple things like color combinations opens a new world for each craftsman.
Micaela Jiménez and Alicia Domínguez, two local weavers, explained how they started working together as a cooperative in San Bartolo Yatepec, which is half past three from the capital of Oaxaca.
“Ana Paula Fuentes called us and we asked if we thought that our community would be interested in learning to dye the cotton that we use to weave our clothes with natural colors, after talking about it, we agreed to establish a cooperative …So that we can all learn from it, “said Micaela Jiménez.
The cooperative, which consists of 16 women and 2 men, received the name of the XHIL, Zapotec for the cotton thread,, The material they use to weave their textiles on a backstrap hanging on a tree or posting inside their houses. “Artisans have been doing this activity since they were young; They have acquired the competence which can only be acquired with consistency over time, ”says Forcella. “The experience acquired thanks to the practice over the years gives the mastery of craftsmen in their profession.”
Because they continue to wear it, communities weave the items that make up their traditional clothes over time. However, when they consider them as parts for sale, they are limited to local residents and buyers, which prevents young generations from continuing their usual weaving companies.
While exploring the region to see what craftsmen have at hand to easily and convenient their colors, Forcella questions participants about plants or raw materials that generate natural dyes in their community. When modern synthetic aniline dyes were introduced to Mexico, textile cities have started to pass natural dyes to new threads dyed with chemically generated colors. Here, however, craftsmen can recall the natural dyes that their grandmothers have used.
These days, they buy only indigo and Cochenien, two basic materials which give a variety of blue and red colors, from the outside of their city. Although they use other local resources, such as Brazil, to produce red, they only use the Indigo factory to obtain blue tones. This local orientation means that communities have reduced their carbon footprint and focus on a lasting form of life that protects and prioritizes their local environment.
Other groups of local craftsmen have also been influenced by the results of this collaboration between designers and craftsmen. Following these new knowledge, their clothing offers have become more varied, allowing the cooperative to respond to a wider range of consumers.
With Xhil weavers who now produce finer clothes in their communities, weaving real peace has also provided commercial support and commercial support, which means that young people San Bartolo Yatepec can now be part of the best future of their city, while preserving a lifestyle that guided its ancestors for centuries.
Social anthropologist and photojournalist ENA Aguilar Peláez Written on health, culture, rights and the environment, with a strong interest in intercultural interactions and historical and cultural contexts.
