Colombian Artisans Fair Trade Project

Artesanias Mamancana is a not-for-profit organisation set up to promote Colombian crafts and artisan made products and support Colombian artisans to work together to develop Fair Trade organisations.

We will be importing hand-made artisan goods produced mainly by mothers who are the head of the household, single mothers and elder citizens who are making and selling these goods to support their families.

COLOMBIA is the second most ecologically diverse country in the world. It has stunningly beautiful landscapes and its people who are mostly friendly, warm and very hard working.

In the departments of Guajira and Cesar traditional techniques for making fabrics, are expressed in beautiful objects like shoulder bags, blankets and hammocks of cotton yarn – unique to the culture WAYUU. IN Cesar, shoulder bags are made from natural fibres woven into a thread by the indigenous tribe the ‘Kankuamo’ and from a special yarn spun by the indigenous group ‘Arahuacos’.

In the Bolivar region we find cotton hammocks and musical instruments ‘gaita’ made from sugar cane.

The Atlantic region is famous for its baskets made from iraca palm found in the municipality of Isiacuri. Carnival masks are made in Galapa and Barranquilla from papier-mache and wood.

In general, in the northern part of Magdalena the Arhuaca and Kogui tribes weave bags and other crafts from jute.
San Andres de Sotavento, Turin and Chinu (Cordoba) keep alive the art of weaving using reed arrows to make products such as sombreros "vueltiao." The pottery towns of San Sebastian and Momil craft all kinds of pottery objects. The hammocks made in Morroa are woven in cotton and basketry in Sabanal is made from banana ‘platano’ leaves.

Mainly sourced from the regions of Guajira, Magdalena, Cordoba and Atlantico in the North of Colombia these goods are of very high quality, using techniques passed down through families for many generations.

If you would like to help promote this project, please do get in touch. http://artesanias.mamancana.org/?q=en/about

All our surpluses are donated to organisations in Colombia and the UK, who are working towards greater social and environmental sustainability. The main UK beneficiary is Action for Sustainable Living.