Meet Our Artisan Suppliers
All of Casa Corazon's goods are personally chosen and/or designed in partnership with our artisan suppliers.
Pedro – Utz Pin Panajachel, Guatemala
Artisan Supplier of Men's Shirts
Growing up poor in the indigenous market town of Chichicastenango Pedro received very little formal education but showed drive and ambition. He started out selling 'artisan goods on the street where he was discovered and mentored by a foreigner who recognized something special in Pedro. He is a self-taught tailor who picked up his skills and learned pattern making on the job.
Today Pedro runs his shop that is stocked from their three-level workshop around the corner. One level is full of bolts of cotton. Upstairs is the sunny room where the pattern maker/cutter and three tailors work. On the upper level, orders are sorted and inspected before delivery.
We particularly like his men’s short sleeve shirts made from traditional ‘corte’ fabric recycled from women’s skirts.
Women’s Weaving Cooperative, Solola, Guatemala
Artisan Suppliers of Bamboo Scarves and Shawls
We love visiting this supplier’s workshop every year to watch these talented women dye and prepare threads (more steps than you could imagine) for the 180 part-time home weavers working on basic back-strap looms. Women in the co-op earn two to four times what they would earn weaving for the local market.
Odilia runs the office of the Coopertive.
Threads are prepared for the home weavers’ looms.
Maria reviews Casa Corazon's order.
This is the courtyard outside the workshop. Always full of threads and textiles drying.
There are many steps to prepare the threads, both before and after dyeing, for the weavers who work at home.
Space dyeing, where different colors are incorporated into a measured section of threads, is done following set recipes, and using the minimum amount of water to be gentle on the environment.
Jaunita, Antigua, Guatemala
Artisan Supplier of Huipiles
It is such a pleasure doing business buying up used huipiles from Juanita. We talk grandma to grandma and visit with her teenage granddaughter who helps out her grandma while doing her homework. These huipiles form the basis of the large bags we have made in Chichicastenango.