Her face lit up. She dropped the blouses in her hand and started digging through her stuff to show me the things that her own hands had embroidered.
By Maria Jose
I was walking through the market looking for some embroidered beauties but it seemed like I had somehow transported to a farmers market in the states. Labels, brands, produce, soaps, some woodworking, but not any handmade embroidered goods by local people.
I rounded a corner and found myself walking down the side of the market behind all of the stands. I found a group of women with their colorful displays of blouses and beaded jewelry. This was it. I found it. I saw a lady with a great variety of blouses so I started talking to her as she began pulling things out for me to see. She pulled out at least 6 machine made tops. The kind that tourists LOVE. You know the type, perfect little flowers, bright colors, clean lines.
I looked at her and said, "you didn't make these." She looked at me a bit startled and said "no, those are machine-made, I buy them because they sell." I said, "yes, they're pretty, but I want to see what you made." Her face lit up. She dropped the blouses and started digging through her stuff to show me the things that her own hands had embroidered. She proudly showed them off and was talking so fast about the unique qualities of each one that she was interrupting herself to tell me about the next one she wanted to show me. I could have stayed there all afternoon as she beamed while talking about her work. That's what it's about.
Enabling people to proudly display their work because it is valued. Empowering women to do what they are uniquely good at. Standing alongside these people and not crippling them or belittling their work because all we see are the machine made goods they are forced to pass off as their own. They are valuable and their work in unbelievable. How about we show them that
@vivir.del.alma
mariajose@delalmaimports.com
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210-854-7990
Thank you for following along with Del Alma Imports. As the work we have done has been aimed at helping artisans, it has become clear that what would be the greatest impact would be a non-profit. I hope you stay with us as we transition to a non-profit to better serve the artisans, their communities, and yes, our customers as well!