The indigenous weavers who aim for empowerment over exploitation

Catherine EllisBusiness reporter, Riohacha, ColombiaBBCIn the Colombian metropolis of Riohacha there are quite a few road sellers of conventional baggage referred to as mochilasFor each handwoven bag she sells on the palm-lined promenade of Riohacha, a metropolis on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, Sandra Aguilar feels that she’s sharing a bit of her heritage.As soon as used completely by the Wayuu, the biggest indigenous group within the South American nation, the luggage – often known as mochilas – at the moment are a staple throughout Colombia, and standard with international vacationers.However today the luggage are additionally more and more offered in world boutiques, featured at trend occasions all over the world, and listed on platforms like Etsy, Amazon, and Instagram – reaching patrons who might by no means have set foot in Colombia.”Due to on-line posts, worldwide guests have gotten very educated in regards to the mochila,” Ms Aguilar says. “They recognise and recognize its ancestral worth.”Weaving has lengthy been central to the Wayuu individuals, who quantity round 380,000 in Colombia. They’ve lived for hundreds of years on the semi-arid peninsula of La Guajira within the northeast of the nation, and prolong into neighbouring Venezuela.Strategies are handed down by means of generations, with geometric patterns on many mochilas reflecting clan id, spirituality, and the pure world.Weaving can be a significant supply of revenue in La Guajira, Colombia’s second-poorest province, the place two-thirds of the inhabitants stay in poverty.For Ms Aguilar, each home mochila gross sales and exports have improved circumstances in her rural Wayuu group of 11 households, and enabled her daughter and niece to attend college.However whereas the rising world demand has improved alternatives for some, it has additionally introduced challenges. Many artisans face exploitation, and there are issues that conventional craftsmanship is being sacrificed for velocity and business acquire.Some Wayuu ladies – supported by socially-conscious entrepreneurs – are working to entry fairer export markets and promote the mochila’s cultural worth.Costs for Wayuu mochilas fluctuate significantly. A medium-sized decrease high quality bag – made with easier designs and weaving methods – could be discovered throughout Colombia for round $20 (£15) – typically much less.Increased-end baggage sometimes begin at round $80 and may rise to a number of hundred kilos, relying on the weaving time, complexity of the design.Historically, mochilas had been crafted over weeks, however rising demand led many weavers to develop sooner methods, producing easier designs in two or three days.Sandra Aguilar sells mochilas made by ladies in her prolonged Wayuu familyFor Colombian entrepreneur Laura Chica, compliments on the Wayuu bag she was utilizing throughout a visit to Europe sparked a enterprise concept. She based mochila firm Chila Baggage again in 2013. “Instagram was simply beginning, and the model started to take off,” she says.Ms Chica says she focuses on high-quality baggage incorporating conventional patterns and components. The baggage mirror the artisans’ abilities, time, and heritage, for which they obtain a good wage, she says.Her model has been featured in magazines, reminiscent of Vogue China, and showcased at worldwide trend weeks and high-end retail areas from Hawaii to London, Paris and Shanghai.However does she assume the flourishing recognition of mochilas has been useful for the Wayuu? For Ms Chica, that very a lot depends upon which market you have a look at. She says two have developed.”There are manufacturers, and people within the story behind how the bag is made, that need to preserve sharing it with the world,” she says. She provides that these present a marketplace for clients who worth indigenous arts, sustainability and honest commerce, and are keen to pay extra.However not all weavers have been in a position to entry methods to work with such firms that pay respectable costs, says Ms Chica. As a substitute she says that that many should depend on a parallel market the place fast manufacturing, gross sales and earnings are prioritised, which undermines pay and the standard of the work.In Riohacha’s Mercado Nuevo – a maze-like market bursting with vibrant stalls promoting yarn, chinchorros (conventional Wayuu hammocks) and mochilas – a gaggle of girls crouches on the concrete flooring, weaving.They clarify that intermediaries, or middlemen, might supply them as little as $5.50 per bag, however after paying for thread and transport, they usually earn as little as $1.50 – excluding the time spent weaving.Many such Wayuu weavers come from rural, remoted communities the place solely Wayuunaiki – the Wayuu language – is spoken. This makes it troublesome for them to entry a broader buyer base and navigate financial alternatives. In consequence, they promote to the middlemen.”Some Wayuu ladies are being compelled to just accept no matter value, benefiting everybody besides the ladies themselves,” says Paula Restrepo, director of Fundación Talento Colectivo.Her organisation helps feminine weavers, whom she and plenty of others recognise as expert artisans, by means of training and coaching.She is eager to emphasize that not all intermediaries are dangerous. As a substitute, she says that the respected ones, which she calls “solidarity intermediaries” assist set up an equitable system for buying mochilas, guaranteeing honest wages and protected working circumstances by means of honest commerce ideas.Her basis has partnered with mochila model and non-profit organisation One Thread Collective to offer the weavers with management workshops. “The concept is that the artisans put together themselves to be autonomous, to be entrepreneurs, to be succesful in the way forward for being involved with different purchasers,” says Ms Restrepo.The weavers in Riohacha’s Mercado Nuevo work on the concrete floorOne of the weavers who has taken half within the workshops is Yamile Vangrieken. Sitting on a vivid orange chinchorro at her dwelling on the outskirts of Riohacha, she explains she leads a gaggle of eight kinfolk from the agricultural group the place her household is from.She acts as a bridge between them – lots of whom do not converse Spanish and have not ever been to town – and One Thread Collective, which helps them export their baggage, whereas offering steady revenue, thread and microloans.Ms Vangrieken’s weaving has helped help her teenage daughter, who herself started weaving at simply four-years-old. Ms Vangrieken hopes she’ll end faculty, go to college, and preserve weaving by alternative – not out of economic necessity.Whereas mochilas are gaining worldwide recognition, that does not at all times translate into larger gross sales for each enterprise.Brandon Miller is an American entrepreneur based mostly in Riohacha. He runs Wayuumarket.com, a platform that helps Wayuu artisans promote on to worldwide patrons.He says his orders have slumped, not resulting from an absence of curiosity, however as a result of extra international companies are travelling to La Guajira to supply the luggage instantly, speaking by means of AI instruments like ChatGPT and translation apps.Yamile Vangrieken earns sufficient cash to help her daugtherBut shopping for on-line has modified too. Mr Miller says influencers – particularly from China and Thailand – began streaming stay from La Guajira on platforms like TikTok, providing real-time purchases to their followers.Shifts in demand, and the way mochilas are offered, have raised issues about management over the luggage’ design, narrative, and earnings.Again on Riohacha’s promenade, Ms Aguilar says the bag’s trend rise has led artisans to adapt or add components, reminiscent of elaborate beading, non secular icons, and even soccer membership logos. She worries that these gross sales methods are eroding cultural norms.However she stays constructive. Recognition is rising – not solely of the Wayuu baggage – however of the indigenous group and the weavers themselves.”We’re additionally artists, even when we do not have a title that claims so,” she says.”Our essence is in our designs, in our merchandise and we mustn’t let that go. Once we lose our customs and traditions, we’re left with nothing.”