"Foundation Chol Chol; Mapuche Traditions; Fashion with Integrity"
I am not the first person to undertake designing for an indigenous group (Aid to Artisans started about a decade ago), but to my knowledge no one else has succeeded in bringing fair trade into the high fashion/design world. I also do not think that any other organization is designing with the indigenous artisans they serve in a way that includes them in the process. Here at the Foundation Chol Chol, we are implementing an open workshop design process – one that does not instruct people how to fabricate modern designs but rather aims to teach a design process that will continue to be self-sustainable. These Mapuche women have been making clothes and textiles all their life and are equipped to imagine beautiful new forms in their work. This model aims to empower them emotionally and creatively as well as financially. While I believe that a “modern” aesthetic curator (designer with market knowledge) will also need to be in contact for their future design innovations, I do see the women as being able to take ownership of the design process in the future – unlike all other fair trade models I have seen.
Design Brainstorming with Mapuche Women
Margaritte adapts her prototype
In my opinion, though there have been many beautiful fair trade product innovations, I have only found one company that has succeeded in creating a coherent and aesthetically recognizable design brand by their products alone (MamaShaman – for-profit). At least in the Bay Area, their products are recognizable. However, their products are not necessarily meeting mainstream fashion demands; rather than encountering them in Nordstrom’s you will find them at one of Global Exchange’s Green Festivals. What is revolutionary about this project with the Chol Chol Foundation is that I am actually aiming for an brand image (models, presentation, connotations) more akin to a successful high fashion design brand, the sort you would find in Vogue or Anthropologie, while all the while proudly displaying the Mapuche aesthetic.
Left: an Anthroplogie sweater ($168), right: an original Mapuche design and creation.
So: though product design is happening in fair trade and people have opened all the doors in terms of feasibility and consumer consciousness, no one is designing well enough yet to bridge the gap to large-scale success for the non-profit/fair trade world which supports indigenous cultures. When “modern product designers” collaborate with marginalized people to help them “make marketable things,” indigenous people are most likely excluded from design dialogue.
Here at the Chol Chol Foundation we are innovating not only our products, graphics, and marketing messages to help Mapuche artisans succeed in a competitive marketplace, we are also revolutionizing the way design is brought to these communities: creating a process that is ultimately respectful.
