The New School Collaborates: International Development through Design

We've moved!

2010-06-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the very talented designer Grace Salem, we now have a new website with a whole new identity and a blog within a robust website. So please bookmark that site, www.thenewschoolcollaborates.com since we will no longer be using this blogger site. Of course, all of the previous blog posts are still searchable there.

Thank you for following our work in Guatemala! We have returned in summer 2010 with a team of 7 students and 1 faculty, so please stay tuned via our new blog.

The Women of Ajkem'a Loya and their breathtaking creations

2009-09-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

Additional view of Mayda's sizable beach tote

Mayda showcasing her accomplished beach bag.

Catharina modeling Ruths bag

Additional view of Sandra's bag

Sandra's intricate Bag with leather accents and inserts

Closer view of Catharina's bag

Catharina's fun and colorful handbag

Close view of Hilda's gorgeous bag

Hilda with her creative textured pouch.

Telma's neutral toned handbag

Romelia's beautifully handcrafted bag w/leather strap and bottom

Back view of Gloria's bag

Gloria and her beautiful bag

sewing the bags

2009-08-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

The women of Ajkem'a Loy'a finishing the bags they designed.

Mayda takes charge concerning the patterns and the sewing

Rebecca sewing Romelia's bag

Hilda and Gloria finishing their bags,

the women made three sizes of the same kind of bag,

Hilda and Gloria are both finishing the smallest version

Sandra assembling the bag she designed

Mayda cutting the pattern for the bag of Catherina

Hilda finishing her bag

Catherina

Romelia showing the fist bag that is finished,

Gloria Raxtun's bag

Muestras Finales de tejidos

2009-08-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Barco

La evolución de los productos esta llendo muy bien en el segundo grupo, Barco. Ahora que tenemos terminadas las muestras de los cubrecojines pasamos a formalizar los tamaños. Hemos escogido dos tamaños de los más vendidos en el mercado americano 18”x18” y 12”x18”. Es una fortaleza que este grupo este trabajando con teñidos naturales porque los colores son muy combinables.

Tenemos aprox 15 muestras que queremos combinar en cuatro cojines, dos del tamanio grande y dos del pequeño. Junto con las mujeres hemos escojido y nombrado las siguientes combinaciones:

Flor Cafe : pequeño (combinacion de Rosa con Virginia)

Paz : grande (Combinacion de Eufemia con Mirta)
Chilca : Pequeño (Combinacion de Eufemia con Teresa)

Luisa : grande (Combinacion de Teresa con Mirta)

Una vez terminadas las muestras en los tamaños reales hemos trabajado con ellas las costuras que se van a utilizar para unir ambas partes del cubrecojin. La parte de adelante es distinta a la parte de atras es por eso que la costura es muy importante para que el producto sea armonico. Las sugerencias de las mujeres nos han servido mucho para unir las dos partes exitosamente . Otro punto importante son los costados del cubre cojin, hemos trabajado 2 acados distintos (maya y red). El ultimo paso para terminar el producto es desarrollar un cierre apropiado que posiblemente sea un lazo hecho de hilo negro.

Al mismo tiempo de ir desarrollando los productos estamos trabajando con los costos. El primer reto es que las mujeres registren los tiempo que invierten en terminar una paño del cojin. Para lograrlo se ha descompuesto el tiempo total invertido en los siguientes: Enrrollado, tramado, subida y tejido. Esto ha ayudado a sacar apropiadamente los costos y ha que ellas tomen en cuenta el hilo invertido y el tiempo que tienen que tener para terminar el producto.

Ajkem´a Loy´a

Después de casi 3 semanas de trabajo con la asociación Ajkem´a Loy´a finalmente tenemos las muestras de los tejidos y diseños que formaran parte de las carteras. Existen 3 tamanios de carteras distintas: Playa, Mediano y pequenio. Estas carteras consta de varias paños que se coserán a mano para conseguir los acabados requeridos.

Tejido de Mayda para la cartera tamaño Playa

Tejido hecho por Sandra, con aplicación de cuero

Tejido hecho por Caterina

Tejido hecho por Gloria

Tambien se desarrollo un modelo distinto de cartera de forma rectangular, hecho de solo dos paños y unidos por cuero.

Tejido hecho por Romelia

Parte de atrás de la cartera, también hecho por Romelia

Giving Indigenous Girls in Guatemala the Chance to Reach Their Full Potential by Supporting Their Education

2009-08-14T06:10:00.001-07:00

Mayan girls and young women in Guatemala are triply disenfranchised by their youth, their gender and their ethnicity.

At the age of 12 they are taken out of school to work because their families cannot afford their education.

Given the opportunity of an education, girls hold the key to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty.

$100 a year can be the decisive factor on whether an adolescent girl flourishes with opportunities or languishes in poverty.

Help us support the education of girls in the communities we collaborate with by donating to our scholarship fund or purchasing a photograph. If you are interested in donating to the fund or purchasing a photograph, please contact me at fberdiel@gmail.com.

Sonia would like to sell her photographs in order to pay for her education. Each photograph is $50 (minimum donation). The sale of two photographs will cover the cost of 1 year of school for Sonia.

Social Entrepreneurs of San Antonio Aguas Calientes

2009-07-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Although most of our time in Guatemala has been spent on working with the women in Santiago Zamora, we have also dedicated time to a few social entrepreneurs in San Antonio Aguas Calientes. These entrepreneurs each informed us about their separate interests and we have come together as collaborating consultants on each of the following projects:

Poli-Deportivo

Enmanuel, a native of Guatemala, lives in San Antonio Aguas Calientes with his mother. After opening a paper store for the students in the area, Enmanuel has plans to develop a multi-sports field and playground on land he already owns. His vision is to provide a free and safe space for the children in the community to play. Alongside the volleyball/soccer/basketball field, he would like to build a playground and concession stand. In the spirit of his father, Enmanuel hopes to become an active leader in the community by supporting the healthy development of the children of San Antonio Aguas Calientes.

Escuela de Katchiquel

Olga, a true entrepreneur at heart and in practice, owns and operates her own bakery, is helping her son to open a laundry mat, and, on occasion, hosts Peace Corp volunteers in her home. Professionally, she works as a Spanish teacher at a school in Antigua. Olga has hopes to transfer her skills as a teacher into opening her own school in San Antonio Aguas Calientes. Her mission: to teach Katchiquel (a Mayan language) to preserve and share her Mayan heritage. Olga's school will be the first of its kind in San Antonio, and she is working to attract not only tourists interested in learning Katchiquel, but also the youth in the community, as knowledge and use of the language is diminishing.

Branding and Marketing Initiative

Irla, a driven and uniquely talented weaver, supports her family’s artisan business through her San Antonio market stall. As a highly zealous and bright mother of two, she sought to develop a brand and marketing initiative promoting her family’s exceptional crafts, as well as offer an array of distinct Mayan activities to the culture-hungry traveler. Recently, Irla had the memorable experience of hosting a foreign student in her home, and looks forward to the opportunity to share her family’s traditions with more interested travelers. Natural herbal medicines derived from the family’s garden, the language of Katchiquel taught by Irma’s father, and lessons in the preparation of naturally pigmented thread made from their cotton tree are just some of the many unique Mayan activities Irma and her family offer. After naming her business IXEL K’IEM (a nod to the Katchiquel god of weaving), and with the support of business cards, a comprehensive brochure in both Spanish and English, and an email address, Irma and her family hope to gain the publicity their remarkable business warrants.

They Have a Name!

2009-07-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce that the women in Santiago Zamora have come to an agreement on a name for their association: Ixoki A'J ru xel Quiem or "Señoras Tejedoras Nativas." We have been working with the official group of 11 women to create a set of rules and regulations, to assign roles and responsibilities and to design a logo. We are looking forward to getting as much accomplished before we head back to the United States to make sure that when we leave, the women feel organized, empowered and informed to make any decisions and to take on any opportunity or challenge that may come their way.

2009-07-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

Time has proven to be a highly treasured element on this trip. In the past two weeks, we have experienced incredible progress with both Ajkem'a Loy'a and BARCO. It has been both a privilege and learning experience working with each group; and equally exciting to see what they have been creating. There is so much to be said about what we have experienced since first here, so I will try and sum everything up as best as possible.

We have been working with the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a on two different groups of bags: the first of which is a circular-shaped drawstring bag in three different sizes and the second, a handheld clutch ("wristlet" I believe is the proper term) and shoulder bag, both in the same size.

We began our work with Ajkem'a Loy'a by introducing a series of "inspiration" images for them to look at. Each of the women selected a few of their favorites, explained to us why they chose them, and began experimenting with their weaving, using the images as "reference." The outcome was very pleasing: each of the women explained what elements they used from the images in their weaving (most of whom were initially attracted to the colors). Mayda, drawing inspiration from a picture of the ocean, not only incorporated colors from it, but also created a dotted pattern in her weave that represented the rocks underneath the water. Those of which were closer to the surface and thus received more sunlight were translated into brighter yellow dots in her weave, while the other rocks further from the ocean's surface were more subdued in her design.

As this exercise proved to be a success, we decided to continue the experiments with each of the women over the next few days. Sandra's experiment was also very impressive...in my opinion, hers was the most daring. You could tell that she was really trying to push herself beyond her limits, which was very exciting to see. From her experiment, we (the students and Pascale) were curious to see what she could do with incorporating leather into her weaving. So, we took a visit to the leather man, Santiago, up the street and brought back strips of leather for Sandra to experiment with. Once again, we were blown away by the progress that was made. Sandra began weaving them in very simple ways, but as time progressed, she began to very intuitively incorporate them as if they were like the rest of the threads.

We were incredibly pleased with the combination of woven and leather, and decided it would also be a nice detail in the two smaller bags (clutch and shoulder). This could very well be the beginning of something really amazing for Ajkem'a Loy'a...

We began our work with the other group of women in the afternoon. We began our workshop by having them show us what they had been making, so that we could have an idea of what kind of products would best sell. We as a group were very, very excited to see what they had been creating, and were especially amazed at how completely different their work was from Ajkem'a Loy'a. After carefully looking over everything and discussing with the women what they would like to make, we all came to the conclusion that pillow covers and scarves would be the best solution. The women were very excited that we were working with them...all of us felt their determination so much that it really felt like a true collaboration.

We were then invited over to Teresa's home, where the women showed us the threads they used in their weaving. All of us were completely in awe at the beautiful array of colors the women showed us. As amazing as the colors were, what was even more incredible was the story behind them and how they came to be. The women explained to us that all of the threads were naturally dyed. Most of the colors they produced came from a single plant (I am forgetting the name as of now...) they find in the mountains. Depending on the cycle of the moon very much determines what colors are extracted from the plant. The women showed us two different bundles of thread, both of which came from the same plant but at different cycles so that one of them was much brighter in color than the other. Another beautiful color, a brilliant orange, was extracted from "zanahorias" or carrots. All of us were so amazed to hear this...not only were the colors beautiful, but the process in which the women collected them was beyond anything any of us had ever seen or heard.

As we continue developing products with these women (who have decided to call their company BARCO: "bar" and "co" are recurring letters in their surnames), our hopes are very high that we can produce a few different pillow covers to be sold in the states. Also, we are planning on taking back a few of their scarves that are already set for production...

So, very exciting things are happening and it's going by very, very quickly. We have yet to see what more will come from our time here, but I am positive it will be amazing.

Until then...

Centro de Mesa: Q1.5/hour; Pulsera: Q10/hour; Knowing How to Price Your Products Fairly: Priceless.

2009-07-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had a successful pricing workshop with the women of Santiago Zamora, after discussing fair wages and business strategies the previous day. We asked them to tell us the products they made that took the least amount of time to make and the prices they currently sell them for. These products were chosen because we learned that products that take more time to produce usually end up being sold for very cheap. For example, a centro de mesa that takes 80 hours to make was usually sold for Q250, which would leave them with an hourly wage of Q1.5 after subtracting the cost of materials. They agreed that this was not a fair price but that they must sell it cheaply because of competition in the market.

Therefore yesterday, after explaining the Guatemalan minimum wage of Q8/hour, we asked them to make a new price list, using the new number for labor cost, of the products they can produce quickly that they might be interested in selling at a store in Antigua. By the end, we had a price list for about a dozen different products, including necklaces, bracelets, napkins, dolls, baskets, place mats, bookmarks, and bags. Almost every woman has her specialty in a different product, which explains the variety. Many of them were already selling above cost, but there were some items that we saw that needed a price fixing or a new way of making. All the women seemed very interested in the difference in prices from before and after and were encouraged to think about changing their prices.

Tomorrow, they will meet Irma from Manos Preciosas, a store in Antigua, to show her their products and (new) prices and discuss as a newly formed group with her about a possible collaboration in the future.

One more thing . . .

2009-07-05T15:54:00.001-07:00

Sandra's experiment weaving the logo of Ajkem'a Loy'a

Experiments and Inspiration

2009-07-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

Last year in June, in San Lucas Toliman, we worked with a much larger group of women then the group of women that is currently assembled under the name of Ajkem’a Loy’a.

Students and faculty from The New School conducted workshops in business, marketing and design. The women of San Lucas Toliman taught us how to weave, bead, and dye threads with natural dyes. The group we worked with wasn’t an organic group, it was a group of women who previously participated in workshops initiated by CARE, workshops dealing with (among other things) health, family planning, and the empowerment of women. In the past year, the group of women that we currently know as Ajkem’a Loy’a became a tight group that is now slowly developing their own products. They take pride in themselves as designers and are very ambitious to create their own designs. Their product development over the past year has been amazing !

Nonetheless, there are other women in San Lucas Toliman that are very gifted weavers and that benefited from our workshops last year, but that are not included in the association Ajkem’a Loy’a. We as faculty and students got really involved in the work and the lives of the women we worked with last year, and coming back this year, as an extension of the New School, it didn’t seem right to only continue working with the women of Ajkem’a Loy’a while excluding the other women from the opportunity to learn and grow with us in the month that we are here.

Thursday a week ago we talked with the women of Ajkem’a Loy’a explaining to them that being here as students and faculty of the New School, an institute for teaching and learning, we didn’t want to exclude anybody from the opportunity to work and grow with us.

We already noticed in the first week that the women of Ajkem’a Loy’a preferred to work in the morning, only a few or none would come in the afternoon. In the morning the sun is out and the air is dry, in the afternoon it rains, the air is very damp, which makes it harder to weave. We agreed with the women of Ajkem’a Loy’a that we would continue to work with them in the mornings and that we would invite other women to work with us in the afternoon.

Friday a week ago was our first day to work with two groups. The second group is a group that formed itself around a few of the other women we worked with last year, it is not a real group yet, but they seem very dedicated to working together and developing new products. The products that they shared with us in the afternoon were beautiful, they immediately radiated a very different energy and we imagined completely different possibilities for products then with the women of Ajkem’a Loy’a.

That morning, with the women of Ajkem’a Loy’a we evaluated the experiments all of us had been working on during the week. The women showed how they translated the inspiration images they chose into their weaving and we shared our experiments with forms, seams, patterns and finishings for bags.

2009-07-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

Kids-with-Cameras Project in Santiago Zamora

We have finally begun our "kids-with-cameras" project with the sons and daughters of "Las Estrellas de Santiago Zamora." Our first day of teaching photography to the kids, although a bit hectic due to the rain, went extremely well. First practicing with digital cameras, our young photographers learned the basics of framing, lighting, and shooting. We then distributed the six dispasables and will be developing them this weekend! We can't wait to show them thier pictures next week and continue the project into July.

Why Kids-With-Cameras?

From a development perspective perhaps it is difficult to see the relevance of the arts in development projects. If this experience workng with women artisans and thier families has taught me anything, it is that the arts are absolutely relevant and import in development. Projects that incorporate the arts are especially important in indigenous communities where there has been a severe lack of visibility in media and government. Instead of being under-represented, or “othered” by mainstream media sources, these projects pave the way for members of the community to self-represent and reduces the misrepresentation of culture and heritage. In place of the stereotypical depictions of indigenous communities that flood the mainstream media, images that accurateley and honestly depict the experiences of these communities emerge.

We work with kids because they have a fresh eye and a new perspective in thier communities and of the world. They also create more intimate and honest images of thier lives--as adults we tend to choose and manipulate our images so that others see the world the way we wish them to see it.

Lesson Plan

Introductions: Why we take pictures

Basics:

FRAMING: Using paper frames show students how to take time arranging shots.

FREE SHOOT: Using digital cameras show kids how to focus and shoot (and that’s all!). Let them explore using the cameras.

PERSPECTIVE: Show examples of 1 subject shot 3 different ways. Ask the kids which one they like best and why.

ACTIVITY ONE: Have students shoot the following subjects from different distances and angles.

a. Person

b. Object

c. Landscape

LIGHING: Talk about simple lightning conditions and when to take pictures.

CAMERAS: Distribute disposable cameras and explain how to use them (and the difference between these and the digitals)

Although most of the pictures were taken with the disposable cameras, here are a few of the pictures taken with our digitals:

ELIZABETH

CLEMENTINO

Tune in this Sunday!

2009-07-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

The TV show LatiNation will be broadcasting a segment on our project in Guatemala this coming Sunday. They interviewed me last Fall, and have edited that with footage from last summer. The show is being described as "Making the Grade, learn how a New York school lends a helping hand to Mayan weavers in Guatemala."

Click the image below to find out when it's playing in your city!

Filming in Santiago Zamora

2009-06-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

As we push open the corrogated metal gate to Lucia's yard we hear the familiar sounds of life in Santiago Zamora--Emmanuel's tiny feet on the dirt as he giggles and hides behind his mothers corte, the puppies whining from beneath thier overturned basket (which keeps them from chewing on the petate as the women weave), and the chirp of the chickens wandering in and out of our circle of chairs. As I edit the collection of clips from this past week, I hear the chorus of sounds that we have become accustomed to in Santiago Zamora and am amazed by this beautiful footage shot by the women in the group.

This video marks the first collaboration in our media project with the "Estrellas de Santiago Zamora", as they have donned themselves. After our first media workshop, the women requested that we continue filming and create a longer feature showing thier art, thier lives, and their stories. The week started off with "story-boarding" in which the women brainstormed a theme for the project and images that would show thier lives. We gave a brief workshop on filming techniques (mainly on framing, lighting, and sound) and had all the women experiment with the cameras. By Friday we had hours of beautiful footage--the majority filmed by the women themselves. I can't wait to finish editing and show the women their beautful work.

Glendi, who filmed for the majority of the week:

Welcome to the Parsons Collaboration with Ajkem'a Loy'a

2009-06-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

Since arriving in San Lucas Toliman, all seven of us (Sandra, Rebecca, Larissa, Alex, Justine, Pascale, and Moira) have been very excited and eager to work with the women. The first day, we had introductions on both sides and sharing of ourselves and our work. we then began with having each woman pick her favorite item that she had made, and explain why she liked it. We all offered comments and constructive criticism while still encouraging each woman's work, which was absolutely beautiful.

After all the women had their turn, it was our turn to share bags and things we had experimented with before coming to San Lucas. The women commented on and critiqued our bags and it was wonderful to hear their opinions and what they liked and see new and different ideas form.

The next day we brought a series of different inspiration images we had collected with different colors, shapes, patterns, and more. By sharing these images, we hoped to show the women some of our design process. The women responded very positively and openly, finding images they enjoyed, laughing at others, and each picked out a few of their favorites. They explained what they liked about the pictures then began to work. It was amazing to see how each woman interpreted the inspiration photos differently, and developed it into their weaving.

As we are continuing, we are working with the women on experimenting with different colors, shapes, patterns, bags, and more. Here are a few photos of the women during the weaving processes.

~Moira

A Beautiful Walk in Santiago

2009-06-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

The work in Santiago Zamora continued with the women taking us for a walk up to see Bernarda's plot of land, which her family rents and she works on with her husband and sons. She led the way with her sharp machete through fields and fields of beautiful fertile land on which were planted corn, avocado trees, peanuts, and "jocote" trees.

The walk and our conversations were again documented in video by several of the women who took turns recording with two of our video cameras. After returning to Lucia's home (our usual gathering place) we trained them to charge the camera's battery and to change the video tapes, and we left one camera with them to continue capturing their lives.

It has been a challenge to get the women to really talk about their lives in front of the camera. Most of the stories they have shared on tape are ghost stories, or myths and legends from Santiago and San Antonio. We are hoping that leaving the cameras with them will encourage them to open up a bit and to share what they share with us off camera, for the media project.

Video project: Santiago Zamora

2009-06-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

We kicked off our work in Santiago Zamora by working with the community to create a video of who they are, what their town is about, and what they want to share about their culture and traditions. This activity has been great in helping strengthen the group (they were not already a group, but were brought together by the municipality to work with us), and in establishing trust between our team of students and faculty and the community (by teaching them video skills as well as showing interest in their stories and everyday lives.) The final piece will be a combination of footage shot by us, by them, as well as photos taken by the kids from a kids with camera workshop that our students are teaching this week.

The women established what they wanted to capture for the documentary. Last Wednesday we videotaped their traditional cooking of pepian and tortilla-making. This past Monday, the focus was dancing,

and a walking tour of their town, and all of the camera work was done by them. This morning we went on a hike with them to chop wood and see their land, and on Friday we will finalize all the video taping with the women demonstrating their artisan crafts: weaving (on the backstrap looom as well as with palm leaves) and doll making.

Stay tuned for the final piece!

Participatory Photography Exhibition in San Lucas Toliman

2009-06-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Last year we conducted a participatory photography project with the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a. Seven compañeras were given disposable cameras in order to capture images representing their hopes and fears. After taking the photographs, the women used the pictures to reflect on their desires and concerns within the context of their collaboration with The New School.

Although we had spent six days a week for a month with Ajkem'a Loy'a, the photography project gave us a deeper understanding of them as individuals and allowed us to take a peep into their intimate worlds.

In collaboration with one of our students, we selected, printed and framed some of the best photographs taken by the women and curated an exhibition. It was such a powerful experience to come back to San Lucas Toliman and be able to welcome the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a with an exhibition of their art.

Sonia's self-portrait representing her fear that her mother would sell her to another house because they couldn't afford her.

Telma's picture of her 89 year old mother weaving, representing her hope to be a strong woman.

Gloria's portrait of a fisherman in Lake Atitlan, representing the customs and traditions of her community.

La Comunidad de Santiago Zamora / Santiago Zamora's Community

2009-06-23T16:37:00.002-07:00

This video was edited by one of our students with footage shot mainly by our collaborators in Santiago Zamora. It was a storytelling warm-up about their community via the 5 senses, for the larger media project we are working on together.

Next Steps: San Lucas Toliman

2009-06-23T16:37:00.001-07:00

Pascale and 5 Parsons students who will be focusing on the development of new products with Ajkem'a Loy'a have arrived to San Lucas and they will continue blogging from there keeping us updated! Some of the things they will work on - critiquing current designs, building on what has been done to adapt towards new products, tags for products, an online and print catalogue, a website for Ajkem'a Loy'a, and finally, helping them setup the new computers which were donated to the association and which they want to use to further support their work and to serve as another way to generate income (by renting them, or teaching computer classes.)

Workshop: How to Export

2009-06-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Per Ajkem'a Loy'a's request, on Sunday afternoon students led a workshop which focused on exporting. The workshop was divided into three parts. The first, focused on what needs to be in place before exporting begins (high quality products, a clear print and online catalogue with styles and prices, communications, and specific people who will be in charge of the various aspects. To enforce this aspect of communication, students led a game of "Operator" where the first person "placed" an order, and it went around the entire group. At the end the order had changed (from an original 10 blue and green scarves and 5 napkins, to just 10 blue scarves) and was a very effective way of presenting how critical communication was in the success of their business.

When discussing a potential product catalogue, we shared the print catalogue from Lema, another weaving association on Lake Atitlan. Some of the details critiqued included: the prices are listed with a "K" (instead of "Q" for quetzal), and the products are not shown on the body.

Then, students discussed receiving and fulfilling an order. Here, it is critical that Ajkem'a Loy'a know exactly how much time they would need to fulfill an order, if the items are not yet in their inventory. They also discussed various ways of shipping. For this particular point, we are also doing additional research in organizations or people who may be able to support Ajkem'a Loy'a in Guatemala once they are ready to export (Agexport and the Ministry for the Economy are two such organizations they should contact.) Finally, we talked about tracking a shipment to make sure it arrived where it needed to.

Ajkem'a Loy'a's store: 2008 & 2009

2009-06-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

Lesson learned from the project: only what is truly designed collaboratively remained in the artisan women's group a year after the project began. In summer 2008 a team of students redesigned Ajkem'a Loy'a's store in San Lucas Toliman. Although they worked carefully with the artisan women, it was not a true collaboration, and perhaps this is the reason they never really "owned" the store's redesign and the work that went into it.

Since last year, the group has left the store they were in and are now occupying a fairly small and dark space in the Sandra's (the association's president) home. Today we helped them hang the sign in front of the store so that there is some public visibility for passersby, but the work that had been done in terms of layout and hierarchy of products has been lost.
We reemphasized many of last year's points today with the women, but only time will tell if they will actually take our comments to heart.

All this being said, no work is lost, and even if as a learning experience, we have all learned from this failed attempt to have Ajkem'a Loy'a truly turn a rented storefront into their own.

Our student team

2009-06-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

Every time I travel with a team of students for an international project, I truly believe that group could never be surpassed in their energy, skills, support for one another, and eagerness to learn. I have, again, been proven wrong. This year's team is yet another superb group of students from Parsons, Milano, and the graduate program in International Affairs who are absolutely dedicated to the work we have come to do, are ready to face new challenges, and are so supportive of one another and our collaborators that I am continuously proud of them.

This photo of a part of our team captures our presence. We stick out in the villages in which we are working, and yet we do it with such coolness, and our feet on the ground, that we are able to feel at home, and eager to connect with everyday life.

Ajkem'a Loy'a: A year after the initial collaboration

2009-06-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

Last night we arrived in San Lucas Toliman. It was my first visit to Ajkem'a Loy'a after last year's collaboration. As soon as we drove into the town, I felt at home. I recognized every corner, every smell, every smile that welcomed me back.

After spending two weeks working with a new group of artisans in San Antonio Aguas Calientes, getting to know them and planting the seeds of our collaboration, it was really inspirational to come back to San Lucas Toliman and meet with Ajkem'a Loy'a. Concepts that we taught Ajkem'a Loy'a last year in our design and business workshops are being implemented. The majority of the women are designing innovative products and have developed their own style. They value their time and include it as a cost when calculating product prices. They know what their craft is worth and will not settle for a lower price. They are in the last month of payments for the microloan they took out last year and are planning to use the funds with the interest earned to reinvest in the association.

On a personal level, the women have also changed a lot. Ruth, who could barely speak Spanish last year, is running the store and is receiving a salary for her time. Catarina, who was very shy and would rarely share her opinion, was proudly showing us her new bag designs. Romelia, is continuously experimenting with new designs and color combinations, and has now developed her own line of scarves.

Last summer, like this year in San Antonio, we were only planting the seeds with Ajkem'a Loy'a and now we are starting to see the fruits of collaborative development at work. We still have a lot to learn but the beauty of the experience is that we are all aware of the importance of the process, the learning process on both sides.

Ajkem'a Loy'a's latest scarves

2009-06-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

modeled by one of our students!

We were excited to see how much Ajkem'a Loy'a has been experimenting with new color palettes, and even new scarf designs (with a variety of color combinations and weaving techniques.)

Click on the image to see the next one.

Our work in Guatemala - Three Locations

2009-06-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

This year we returned to Guatemala with two goals: to continue the work we had started last year with Ajkem'a Loy'a in San Lucas Tolimán, and to expand our work in Guatemala with other communities in other towns/villages. We are excited to report back that we are on track in accomplishing both goals, by working with two new groups, in San Antonio Aguas Calientes and Santiago Zamora, and by returning to San Lucas Tolimán to continue supporting the Mayan weaver's association, Ajkem'a Loy'a.

We can finally share our goals for each of the three locations:

San Antonio Aguas Calientes
This has been the most vague of our collaborations, because our contact is in the municipality, and yet they haven't had a clear idea of how we can work together. Our goal in San Antonio is to create an advisory document for the mayor, about community tourism. We want to share our own research (primary research as well as observations from living there and interacting with the community), and offer suggestions, and maybe some criticism on how they are thinking about community tourism. Our biggest concern is that they are adopting this as a buzz word without knowing all the implications of promoting such tourism.

Santiago Zamora
We are connected there to a group of approximately 15 weavers. They are interested, as Ajkem'a Loy'a was last year, in selling their products to people who will pay a fair price, to maybe export their products, to invite tourists to their village, and to make themselves and their work known. We see our work there very similar to what we did last year in San Lucas - running a workshop series to address many of their interests aligned with the skills in our group. Specifically, we are developing a media project that communicates who they are as a group and about their culture and local traditions. We will also teach some workshops in basic business and design, and ultimately have the goal of finding some grants to continue our work in Guatemala.

San Lucas Tolimán
We have only spent two days (a total of 4 hours) with Ajkem'a Loy'a, and are thrilled with how the group has advanced. Although there are less women participating (12 core members), the group that is in place is strong and well organized. We are also thrilled to see how their designs have advanced since last year. They have experimented quite a bit with color combinations, with new weaving techniques, and even with new products (children's clothes, handbags, and new kinds of scarves.) A team of design students, led by Pascale, will be spending the next whole month solely focusing on developing new products that can now be brought back to New York for further market research, and possibly to start exporting/importing some of their artisan goods.

Santiago Zamora

2009-06-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

We have been working in the municipality of San Antonio Aguas Calientes since the beginning of June, and we finally had the opportunity to visit Santiago Zamora - a small village that is part of San Antonio and just a 5-minute drive.
In Santiago we have found an eager and friendly group of weavers who are thrilled to be collaborating with us. We had a wonderful first meeting on Friday, followed by an initial session in which we identified their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of their artisan work. Our students also facilitated a short digital storytelling workshop in which they had to describe "community" using one of the five senses.
We will now be dividing our time between workshops in San Antonio (the urban center) and Santiago. Stay tuned for more on both!

Earth Lodge

2009-06-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit Earth Lodge - a wonderful lodge just 20 minutes outside of Antigua with absolutely stunning views, delicious home cooked meals, and an extremely friendly and international staff.
I was particularly moved by the work that co-owner Briana is doing in the public school of El Hato - a nearby small village. I am more and more convinced that it is these initiatives (small scale, and person to person) that can truly make a difference. With no overhead, every quetzal donated to her project is guaranteed to be spent on the children who most need it. Read here to learn more about this initiative.

Teaching Spaces

2009-06-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

To be resourceful is always a prevalent, yet unpredictable, learning opportunity that these kinds of fieldwork programs offer to our students. This year, in particular, we have had some challenging moments when it comes to teaching spaces - not always knowing if we have to hold an impromptu workshop

on the property of one of our collaborators, or if a particular meeting room will be open, if we may just have to teach in a hallway

, or as it happened last week a few times -

in a basement garage (hoping that the owner of that car wasn't going to have to drive it out!)

Overheard in Antigua, Guatemala

2009-06-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

A family of tourists overheard at one of the many stalls of Antigua's large artisan market:

Man (holding a football/soccer jersey up) asking vendor, "Do you have a jersey from America?"
Vendor (referring to the Latin American football teams that are called 'America') replies in Spanish, "No, that one is not from America."
Man, "Do you have from America?"
Woman (clarifying on behalf of her husband), "From the United States?"
Vendor, "Are you trying to ask how much it costs?"

I did not have time to stop and help translate, but I would've enjoyed the opportunity to remind this family that, particularly in this part of the world, 'America' is all of us - North, South & Central America. Interestingly enough, Guatemalans often refer to the U.S. as 'Los Estados.'

Workshop: Basic English

2009-06-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

This week was a tough one to attract participants to our workshops because everyone is either participating in or preparing for this weekend's festivities, in celebration of San Antonio de Padua (the town's patron saint.)

However, we kicked off our workshop series with English workshops. Below are spreads from a booklet that students designed, printed, and colored in by hand, with the colors and basic words in English and their phonetic translation to teach pronunciation.

Consulting with Jeremias, a local self-taught graphic designer

2009-06-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, two of our Parsons students and I met with the designer for the municipality, Jeremias. He was actually hired as a computer technician, and has ended up also designing all the marketing materials for the local government and its events.

He was interested in our feedback on his design for a vinyl banner promoting a local artisan women's association "Caminemos Juntas."

Our students did a terrific job in taking him step-by-step through a graphic designer's decision process, emphasizing less is more, the importance of white space, and the cardinal rule of not stretching typefaces.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Jeremias was very happy with the end result, but was not sure if the client would be OK with removing the two oval images next to the main heading.

I'll report back once it gets printed!

One Country - Two Beauty Queens

2009-06-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Miss Universo Guatemala 2009 and Miss Reina Maya 2009. Who truly represents Guatemala?

First session in San Antonio Aguas Calientes

2009-06-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

Students organized a successful information session for Monday afternoon. It was promoted via posters that were taped around town, flyers they handed out, word of mouth by walking door to door, and via a man on a tricycle with a megaphone who rode around town broadcasting the purpose and time of the meeting (video on that coming soon.)

During the meeting teams of students facilitated small groups of San Antonio citizens who were asked to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of the town. We now have this list which establishes a framework within which we will run workshops about culture preservation in tourism.

The meeting ended with a digital storytelling workshop in which the members of each team had to describe San Antonio through one of the senses - "San Antonio tastes like...", "San Antonio smells like..." One of the students rapidly edited a movie from everyone's clips, so that we ended the day with the participants seeing themselves talking on a large projection.

A Politicized "Beauty" Pageant

2009-06-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we had the fortune to attend the election of the Reina Flor del Cafe 2009 in San Antonio. It was really wonderful to see how the concept of a pageant was adapted to an indigenous community, with an emphasis on the preservation of their culture and traditions. The 7 contestants had to wear a variety of traditional dresses, explain their origin and symbols, dance typical dances, speak the native dialect Kaqchiquel, and deliver a short speech on a topic of their choice.

The candidate in the video is the winner, for whom we were all rooting after her speech, which we found so moving & educational. Enjoy!

Community Tourism

2009-06-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

A 2-hour debriefing session yesterday afternoon with all of the students led to some specific decisions in terms of how we want to be working here in San Antonio, and with the artisan groups that we met on Wednesday. We've decided to move forward under the budding local program of Community Tourism. San Antonio's mayor shared that this is a priority of his office, and he would be interested in whatever feedback we can give him.

So, the students have decided to move ahead with this, and not only focus on community tourism, but invite as many people from San Antonio to participate in defining these terms for their municipality, and in terms of what roles they can play.

Our students have designed flyers to promote two information sessions - Friday and Monday at 3pm, during which we will present the idea and facilitate a brainstorming session on how this initiative can impact the community, and how each person can prepare, and benefit from, a potential influx of tourists. Currently, tourists are dropped off on the main square, in which they sit for a while, before wandering into the one artisan market that exists in town, and then return to sit in the park, before hopping on a bus to return to the touristy city of Antigua.

Some potential deliverables and activities for next week may include:
[]Working with workshop participants to develop, design, print, and distribute a multilingual map of San Antonio that orients tourists in the town and points to some interesting destinations and activities
[]Creating a media kit about San Antonio (the place, the people, their traditions) via a digital storytelling workshop using Flip cameras
[]Teaching a pricing and design strategy workshop for artisans to keep in mind what types of products are more likely to sell (while still receiving a fair wage for their work), as well as what types of services could be offered (spend the morning cooking with a local family, learn how to weave, walk up the mountain and chop some wood, etc.)
[]Developing guidelines for the municipality, and its residents, to keep in mind when adapting their activities to tourists (making sure they are not demeaning themselves nor their culture, and not artificially creating culture)
[]Running a workshop on how to exploit tourists - possibly the most controversial of our ideas, students are very interested in making our community collaborators very aware of how tourists may try to exploit them, their culture, or even their image

Cooking a Typical Guatemalan Lunch

2009-06-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

Silvia, one of the women who attended our first meeting yesterday, invited us today to join her and her family to learn how to cook "Pepian," a typical Guatemalan dish. We'll share the recipe that they taught us, but in the meantime enjoy these shots from the day.

After shopping at the butcher and a couple of vegetable markets, we started the cooking in their outdoor kitchen, a shack in which they have a wood-burning stove. All of the surfaces on which they cook are black ceramic, handmade in another region of Guatemala.

The pepian sauce has chilies, tomatoes, and onions which are blended after being cooked on the wooden stove.

We also participated in making (or trying to make!) tortillas, which could be clearly identified as the not perfectly round ones during lunch.

This is what the final dish looks like - rice (with carrots and peppers), beef rib which was cooked in water for hours with cilantro, and a lot of the pepian sauce.

It was wonderful to spend the day with the three generations of this family - they were all so welcoming and really made us feel at home (we started at 10:30 am and left at 2:30pm!)

Setting Goals

2009-06-03T18:37:00.000-07:00

Although we were supposed to meet with the artisan women with whom we'll be working, a last minute invitation to them from the central government postponed our meeting for Wednesday. We used the time to meet as a team, debrief our conversation with San Antonio's mayor, and set goals for ourselves. On the left part of the image you can see the highlights from what was discussed with the mayor. And on the right, a proposed list of deliverables that our students are interested in pursuing, and which we believe align with what the mayor presented to us. The list on the right will probably be updated on an almost daily basis, as we get to the know the women, learn their needs, wants, and as we realize what resources we have (or don't have) to accomplish each item.

Reflections on collaborative development #1: Implications of "sweat aid"

2009-06-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about the nature and impact of development initiatives since we left New York yesterday morning. My seating arrangement on the flight from Miami to Guatemala is what triggered my train of thought. I was sitting on 19A, surrounded by a group of 34 missionaries sent to Guatemala to do humanitarian work. Just on my flight I counted at least 60 people traveling to Guatemala for the summer to engage in some sort of humanitarian/development initiative.

It frightened me to realize the amount of volunteer "sweat" aid that Guatemala receives. Each initiative with its own vision, mission and program, each group co-opting the popular lingo from the field to promote their own agenda and approach.

How is the over-saturation of volunteer "sweat aid" affecting or benefiting Guatemala? What is the impact that these multiple interventions have on local communities and their local governments? What are the implications for communities when development/humanitarian initiatives are not part of a local strategic plan, but rather, are project-based, and continuously shifting based on the ideology and agenda of the visiting group?

How can we, as the visiting group, prevent the continuation of project based, isolated, non-coherent initiatives and engage with local actors to strengthen and contribute to their strategic plan. What if there isn't a strategic plan?

Day 1 - A Total Immersion

2009-06-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today's day started with a typical breakfast (more on that later),

a stop to purchase a couple of inexpensive cellphones (the two major companies are Claro and Tigo) for our students,

and then a public bus ride from Antigua to San Antonio.

In a very nice first meeting with most of the students (one arrived later, in the afternoon) for this first part of our project, led to some great ideas, goals, priorities, and values that we set for ourselves. Some of the things that came up include cultural preservation, cultural tourism, capacity building, community inclusion, urban development, and mapping and networks. I was quite moved with the students' sensibilities which were guiding their desire to not "set the agenda" until we had actually met with our community partners.

After a yummy Guatemalan-style lunch we

waited to meet with the Mayor of the Municipality of San Antonio de Aguas Calientes (which includes the urban center of San Antonio and the small villages of Santiago Zamora and San Andres Ceballos.

The meeting with the mayor was definitely an eye-opening experience for anyone who has not been exposed to Latin American politics. Definitely more on that later, but the big take-away question for me is - how can local governments gain popularity via short-term solutions to big problems, but still pave a path for a sustainable long-term goal for poverty alleviation and the wellbeing of the citizens? A huge question, for which I can only hope that the work we do this summer will maybe help to answer (or even participate in the answering of) this development dilemma.

Our work day ended with a meeting with Veronica, the coordinator of the Women's Project for the municipality, and the person who oversees the project/work with which we will be connecting. There's currently not much structure to the program on the government side of things except that it seems that San Antonio is joining in on a Guatemalan trend of "community tourism" in which they are exploring this notion of preparing towns to "give" to tourists more than just a piece of cloth to buy, but a true local experience (making tortillas, grinding coffee beans, and learning how to weave were some of what they mentioned.)

What are you looking for when you book a trip? What would really make you want to come to San Antonio?

Back in Guatemala - faculty & students

2009-06-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

We are happy to be back in Guatemala. This year we are doing things a bit differently. First, we are excited to be working with a new group of artisan women. We are partnering with the municipality of the town of San Antonio de Aguas Calientes and starting off by understanding their goals, the goals of the artisan women, and after a needs assessment, figure out how we want to best work together. The first group of students who are here have prepared workshops in leadership, group work, English, computers, and photography. Stay tuned to see what we end up working on!

In two weeks we will return to San Lucas Toliman to continue the work we have been doing with Ajkem'a Loy'a. This summer we have a specific goal of producing five finished products to bring back to New York for further market research (or even to present to retailers for orders.) We also want to be diligent about evaluating our work thus far, and deciding on a mid to future term long plan.

If this is the first time hearing about our work, please read this paper which serves as a trip report from last year, and outlines how this all started.

Thank you for reading, and we promise many more images and video entries in days to come!

2009-04-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

In March 2009 I returned to San Lucas Toliman to continue working

with the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a on the tracksuit we are developing for W139 ,

one of the main art spaces in Amsterdam.

click here for more information

In the days to come I will publish pictures and little video's that give insight into

the process of weaving all the parts for the tracksuit.

The first prototype is the example we worked with,

making little changes here and there, completing all the woven parts

for the women's size tracksuit .

the first prototype tracksuit

2009-02-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

possibilities 2

2009-01-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

close-up of one of the experiments of Catherina

the experiments of Catherina with the W for the top part of the pants

Sandra experimenting with a dark color and more full figures

combining possiblities

2009-01-18T22:13:00.000-08:00

new colors 139

sleeve

combination top/trousers

2009-01-18T21:33:00.000-08:00

a design that Romelia and Cindy collaborated on

all women are weaving real size now, no more small experiments

Gloria and I collaborate on a design for the sleeves of the top

Gloria, Cindy and Romelia weaving in Sandra's yard

Romelia weaving the newly designed 139 pattern

different experiments by Catherina for the figure W on top of the trousers

Catherina, Sandra y Mayda weaving real size

Catherina experimenting with the figure W real size

The new 139 design

Designing 139

2009-01-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

In the afternoon, from 2pm to 6pm, I work with the other women of Ajkem'a Loy'a,

Sandra, Romelia, Catherina, Ruth, Gloria, Hilda y Cindy experimenting with weaving.

At 4 pm Telma brings us cookies from her bakery and we drink coca cola.

Sewing and pattern making

2009-01-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

Every morning from 9am to 12 pm, I work with Mayda in the shop of Ajkem'a Loy'a,

designing the shape, making the patterns and sewing the prototypes for the track suit.

Experiments with the W of W139

2009-01-14T19:24:00.000-08:00

Romelia's design of the W

Catherina's first experiment

Telma and Catherina discussing the design of the figure W

What a clear day, today !

2009-01-14T11:24:00.000-08:00

The first weaving experiments

2009-01-12T17:33:00.000-08:00

A track suit for W139

2009-01-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

In the coming two weeks the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a and I will develop the first proto type of a track suit for W139. W139, one of the main art spaces in Amsterdam, started as an artist run space in 1979. In October 2009, W139 will celebrate it's 30st birthday . For the occasion a limited edition of 139 track suits, produced by the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a and their bigger community, will be offered for sale in W139.

Pascale Gatzen

fashion designer, associate professor and coordinator of the Integrated Fashion Curriculum in IDC, Parsons, the New School for Design

www.w139.nl

Participatory Photography Project

2008-12-20T11:29:00.000-08:00

I traveled to Guatemala in April 2008 to meet with Ajkem'a Loy'a and plan the summer collaboration. I was given the task to document my visit through photography so that I could report back to the students in NY. I felt reluctant about taking on this responsibility since I considered myself a terrible photographer. I was famous among my friends and family for cutting off people's head when taking their picture.

It was during the meetings with Ajkem'a Loy'a, when I looked at these women decide their future through the lens of my camera, that a photographer was born.... I couldn't stop photographing their animated faces talking about the infinite possibilities that this project presented. The camera became a tool for capturing the energy and passion in the air.

When I returned to Guatemala during the summer of 2008, I had the pleasure of facilitating a participatory photography project with Ajkem'a Loy'a. I was eager to share this skill with the women that had inspired me to start taking photographs and find my own voice through photography. I conducted several workshops ranging from how to use a disposable camera to how to capture a feeling in an image. Overall it was an amazing experience to see the women from Ajkem'a Loy'a find their own voices and the means to represent themselves through images. The theme for the project was hopes/dreams and fears/concerns. Here are some of the images that were produced during the workshops.

The participatory photography project, Another Look, was conducted in nine different countries, Guatemala being one of them. For more information on Another Look visit: http://www.gpia.info/anotherlook2008 .

A great week in San Lucas Toliman

2008-12-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

Today was my last day working with Ajkem'a Loy'a this week. I traveled with a grant from W139 to teach them how to use the internet. A paper-based workshop to explain what the internet and email were, started off the week with a holistic understanding even before sitting in front of the computer.

We then had a couple of days of mixed time, between their workshop space and the local internet cafe in town. It was a fantastic experience. The first reply they received to one of their emails was an amazing, and surprising moment for them. Their finding pictures of our June collaboration on a website was exciting for them, and thrilling for me to watch. And then, seeing them realize that googling could become a design tool, was exactly what I was hoping for.

We'll have to wait and see if they are able to practice (they can check their email for $.30 for 30 min.) as much as they should to not forget everything we worked on this week. I have been emailing for 16 years now, and it was a beautiful experience to not take for granted every little thing I've learned, and even more exciting to revisit those early days of email with a group who had not imagined they could ever actually understand what those young kids are doing in front of the computer for so many hours a day.

Today I was invited to three of their homes. It was extremely humbling and moving to see how they live. The lucky ones live in spaces with enough beds for herself and her two children. Others, a mother of four, shares a bed with two of her children, while the other two sleep in the neighboring bed. They have no floor other than patted down dirt and never have the luxury of walking around without shoes on.

It's always a sad goodbye, but I feel fortunate that I'm able to do this kind of work, and hopeful for a return next year with students who can share these experiences of working in the developing world.

(NOTE: This may have to be my last post in only English. Now that the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a are reading I'm hoping this blog will now go bilingual! Any volunteers out there who will help me translate previous and future entries?)

Introducing Ajkem'a Loy'a's Products

2008-12-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

This slideshow documents the current inventory in Ajkem'a Loy'a's store in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala. Roll over "Notes" for details on materials, size, and prices.

Photos from the Fall 2008 Exhibition at Parsons

2008-12-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

New School students - get involved!

2008-10-17T12:17:00.001-07:00

Join us for our opening in NYC on 09/24, 6PM

2008-09-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

Aronson Gallery - 66 5th Ave, NY, NY
09/19 - 10/03, 10AM - 8PM

Opening Reception
09/24, 6PM

Beaded pixels: an experimental animation

2008-07-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, after learning how to bead I became fascinated with this idea of each bead as a pixel. Here is a short animation that took me 3 weeks to bead (and 1 hour to put together :)).

And this is how the storefront turned out...

2008-07-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

Before and After shots from the inside coming soon...

A Final Snapshot

2008-06-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Our month-long stay in San Lucas ended with the inauguration of Ajkem'a Loy'a's newly redesigned store. Here it is - the new logo handpainted on the facade, courtesy of Elias Jacinto (master painter & typographer in San Lucas) with side texts by our own Jeremy "Jeremias Ganabien" Goodwin.

2008-06-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Estella with a fish bag. Tomorrow, Monday the 23rd, Candice and Trey (Carlos) will do a workshop with the children of Ajkem'a Loy'a to make little bags. The children are very inspiring, they make us beautiful drawings and brighten up our days with

their love, affection and openess. While one of the groups is conducting a workshop

with the women, another group takes care of the kids.

Our final week

2008-06-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Next week will be our last week here in San Lucas. We have done a lot and yet feel there is so much left to do! We will be focusing on three major things in the next several days:
1. Working with the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a to organize, plan, practice and promote workshops for tourists - in beading, backstrap loom weaving, and jewelry making.
2. Redesign their store and association's logo (stay tuned for before & after pix!)
3. Continue refining their construction skills in patternmaking and sewing to facilitate new product development.

Stay tuned for some final images, outcomes, and most importantly, next steps...

Chichicastenango

2008-06-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

A 30-minute boat ride to Panajachel and an hour car ride (or 4-hour multiple transfer bus ride on public transportation as some from our group experienced) got us to Chichicastenango known for its enormous outdoor market on Thursdays and Sundays (as well as the church in which the Popol Vuh was found.)

Walking for several hours through the windy paths of the market with vendors on either side of us, we confirmed that the competition in the Guatemalan arts & crafts market is fierce. We found everything from antique guipiles, to westernized adaptations of the typical outfits, to bedspreads, wooden items, and even leather goods.

It is critical that our group be able to develop innovative products to be able to enter the market, and this week we begin the process of figuring out what some of those could be.

Ajkem'a Loy'a Workshop: Natural Dyeing

2008-06-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

Last year some of the women from Ajkem'a Loy'a were trained in naturally dyeing cotton threads for their weaving. With a stove setup in the outside patio of the students' house, Sandra very patiently walked us through the lengthy process through which we dyed two bunches of thread with "Pericon" (St. Johns Wort.) The result - a very nice tone of mustard yellow. The challenge - this process takes around 7 hours in total which will ultimately increase the price of the products made with natural dyes (now, mainly napkins and scarves.)

Any feedback from our readers on what percentage increase in price would you be willing to pay for naturally dyed threads that are guaranteed not to run?

Ajkem'a Loy'a Workshop: Mostacilla

2008-06-16T09:39:00.007-07:00

This was the first workshop run by the women from Ajkem'a Loy'a for the group from The New School. They taught us their techniques to make "fajas de mostacilla" (beaded belts that they commonly use to tie their skirts around their waist.) We worked in pairs starting off with a rectangular piece of wood with two rusty nails hammered into each of the ends. The first step was to carefully attach a wire to these two nails which would hold the threads in place. We each took a spool of thread and stretched it back and forth lengthwise between the two new wires we had attached.

Then, the beading began. Previously assorted colors were in styrofoam cups for us to use. The women initially suggested that we follow one of the designs they normally use, and copy over and over again - that of small birds. Most of us were quick to suggest coming up with our own designs. This unplanned change in the process was a real eye-opener for our collaborators who enjoyed watching us imagine new designs on the spot, or diagram them out in our notebooks, or even copy images from the garments we were wearing. We realize it is essential that we continue to learn the techniques they already master for the next two weeks during which we want to collaborate on new products. We also have a newfound respect for Guatemalan arts and crafts in general, now knowing the tedious nature of a lot of their work. (And personally, I am fascinated with the parallels between this technique of beading and digital media - each bead acting as a "pixel" in the material world.)

A Most Beautiful Landscape

2008-06-13T07:16:00.001-07:00

On our way from Panajachel back to San Lucas Toliman we made a stop from the curvy road to soothe the motion sick. What we ran into was this most beautiful landscape from the "Mirador de Godines." It was dusk and we were above the clouds that have been covering the volcanos since we arrived. Here you can see Lake Atitlan, the three volcanos that surround it, and two small cities (the color lights on the bottom of the picture.)

Weaving Workshop

2008-06-12T14:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a particularly exciting day because we were having our first weaving workshop. I packed my backstrap loom that has traveled with me from Guatemala to NY and back to Guatemala without being touched. The women from Ajkem's Loy'a and the students spread around the house, setting up their work stations. I chose to go outside in the front yard and tie my loom to a tree. As soon as I started weaving, the world around me disappeared and I entered into a very peaceful state of mind. Once in a while, my trance was interrupted by kids laughter, requests for translation and ants biting my feet.

Weaving the thread in and out of the loom transported me to far away places, cherished memories and dreams about the future. The art of weaving allowed me to coexist in multiple times, places and dimensions. Past, present and future were interwoven into the very fabric of my scarf. Each knot, each space represents a moment in an alternative reality and, in someway, tells the story of my most intimate hopes and fears. There is a thread for each of my loved ones, the people that have shared a moment of their lives with me and by that interaction made me stronger and wiser. There is a thread for those that have hurt me because they have helped me understand and cherish my own power. There is a thread for those that have challenged me, because it is only through those challenges that I have striven to try harder and improve myself. And finally, there is a thread for all of those people, things, moments that have inspired me, because it is in those moments of inspiration that I find my true being.

Nine hours later, I snapped out of the trance only to realize that the story of my life had been woven...

Meet the Participants!

2008-06-11T06:46:00.001-07:00

Business Workshop: Savings & Inventory Control

2008-06-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Building on the June 5th workshop on pricing, our student team started off by asking the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a what items could be eliminated from the pricing worksheet in order to reduce the price point of one of their products. This conversation led the group to prioritize what they need now for their association, what could come in the future, and of particular interest to the women - how can individual members loan resources they may have to the association during their start-up phase (items that are required for weaving, for example.) The second part of the workshop was about inventory control. The association has a way to keep track of their inventory which they shared with us - they have a notebook in which they write what products they have and what they sell. Our students suggested that they instead use two notebooks - one to keep track of products and another to keep track of sales. We ended the morning with a visit to their store during which we all identified opportunities to improve their shop. Our goal - a relaunch of the Ajkem'a Loy'a arts and crafts store on Thursday, June 26th!

Product Workshop: Design & Fabrication

2008-06-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Candice, Eileen, Jeremy, Stacy, Trey started off their first workshop with everyone sharing the clothing and accessories they had been asked to bring along and explain why the brought them. This exercise was meant to show that the things one likes can be made in different ways and turned into different things. Then the group engaged in a cutting and pasting activity in which they were asked to cut out shapes, patterns, colors and lines that they liked from magazines given to them. The following activity was about creating icons or symbols that tell stories. The women were asked to draw different things in their lives that represent something important to them. Finally, the participants created a new article of clothing for a child (in our afternoon session, they had to design for one of the visitors.) For homework the women need to think about an idea for an actual product to develop before our collaboration is over.

Business Workshop: Pricing

2008-06-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

Anna, David, Jane, and Nika led this workshop on valuing time and pricing. They started with a laughing ice breaker in which all participants had to laugh for a whole minute. Then, each person had to write or draw everything they do in one day. This setup the conversation about one's time and how to value time. It was particularly interesting to find out exactly how much the Ajkem'a Loy'a members spend on their products each day. The workshop ended with the detailing of capital costs, material costs, and labor costs, that go into the making of a guipil. They currently charge 150-200 quetzales (U$20-25) per item, but should be charging at least Q458 (U$62), to earn a fair wage (U$1 per hour) and not work at a loss. Although there was a reaction of "Maybe we shouldn't be weavers any more" the women were excited to learn the details of the numbers behind a business, and are now open to thinking about modified designs which may cost them less to produce.

Barbie a la Maya

2008-06-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

We learned that some of the children make garments for their barbie dolls. This particular one is an interesting outfit designed from local textiles. It reminds us of one of our students' prototype designs from the Spring semester, and something to return to with the women (and children!)

Dancing

2008-06-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

Dancing is central to latin culture and is already playing a big role in our time in Guatemala. On the first day the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a performed their typical dance, the "són."

Later in the day we had a chance to also try the moves.

It has now become tradition to end our days with some dancing - son, reggaeton, salsa, and even some pop.

Rain

2008-06-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

It's been raining every single day since we arrived in San Lucas. First, the two tropical storms, and now it seems to just be the normal climate. Everything is damp, the things we wash don't really dry, and we look forward to every bit of sun we can get!

Apple computers = laughter

2008-06-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

As I was editing some of our videos I started to attract several of the children from Ajkem'a Loy'a to the desk in which I was sitting. They were content to just sit next to me and watch and listen as I edited in iMovie, but it was when I went to PhotoBooth and started taking pictures with the embedded iSight camera, that this happened.

and these are what they were taking & what were making them laugh so much

Anybody have any suggestions on how to contact Apple with these images to ask for a potential donation or loan of one or two laptops for these kids?

"Sock" puppets for the kids

2008-06-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

We have been extremely moved by all the children who surround us on a daily basis. We have become accustomed to running workshops with interruptions of baby sounds and children playing. We took some time out of our routine to handmake sock puppets (without socks!) for the kids.

Marketing workshop: branding

2008-06-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

Our three teams of students: Marketing, Business & Product Development have designed a series of workshops for the women of Ajkem'a Loy'a.

Our brave Marketing Team members - Aashrita, Aparna, Nick & N'deye - kicked off our workshop series with their first on branding. They walked the women through exercises in self-branding and identity, colors, shapes, and symbols, and culminated with potential redesigns of their association's logo. The main question of this three-hour session was - how do you design a brand so that it represents the characteristics you are hoping to communicate?

First stop: Antigua

2008-06-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

Antigua was the perfect place to spend our first night in Guatemala.

Despite the never ending rain from two tropical storms, we couldn't wait to wander around town and discover the beauty of this country and region.

I wonder who decided this cutout was reflective of the artisan market inside?