As was the case with our first group, Ajkem’a Loy’a, in San Lucas Toliman, this summer we have experienced our bit of small-town gossip, envy, and jealousy, and a translation of the personal into the professional as the women’s groups in Santiago Zamora have been created, dissolved, and reconfigured to the point where we had to have an intervention of sorts to see if we could all just peacefully work together.

This is the story…

In 2009 our student team helped a group of women in Santiago Zamora start a new association called Ixoki A’J ru xel Quiem.  Some key people we should point out who were in that group (since they will return in our story) are Lucia, Maria, Hermelinda, Dina, Nancy, Lidia and Bernarda Maribel.

In fall 2009 we learned that this association had dissolved and that groups had split off.

In spring 2010 we called one of the numbers we had, Maria‘s, to start planning this year’s project.  She confirmed that last year’s group had dissolved and that she had a group that included Lucia, Maria (herself), Nancy, Lidia and four other women.

In summer 2010 we met and started working with the association Ixoki A’J Quiemo L’ which Maria coordinates.  As reported on the blog, we were working with them to support their community tourism program and their cooperative and community in general.

In the middle of the week I received a call from Hermelinda and later (not coincidentally, I think) bumped into Hermelinda and Dina (both participants from last summer’s project) on the bus coming back to Antigua and learned that last year’s association was still active.  They didn’t have any activities but continued to work as a group and were expecting us to come back and meet with them.  They proceeded to share more gossip about the women in the association we’ve been working with all week.  So, we decided to host a meeting between the two groups, although not many women showed up.  From last year, only Hermelinda, Dina, and Bernarda Maribel came and from this year, we had Maria, Meda, Delfina, and Leonarda.

It was clear during the meeting that last year’s group has really only come together again once they found out we were back in Guatemala, and after some group discussion about the pros and cons of collaboration it was clear that they understood that making one large group would strengthen and better support the work they can get done.  And when given the opportunity, Hermelinda, Dina, and Bernarda Maribel said they would like to just join this year’s group.

Now that has all been clarified, we are working steam ahead to continue what we had started, with a group that has three new members, is still coordinated with Maria, and with whom we are drafting a letter which they will all sign indicating that membership will not change without advising members of DEED back in New York.  This way, these changes in the group won’t catch us by surprise once we’re back, but we will stay privy to the details throughout the year.

Phew!

On Friday, during our first meeting in Santiago Zamora we briefly discussed with the cooperative that they need to be strategic about what they make in terms of pricing. As an example, we used a long belt they were weaving (they traditionally use a backstrap loom woven belt/sash to tie their skirts up, which is approximately 6 ft in length.) We suggested that instead of spending weeks weaving one belt, they could, using the same width and technique, make wide bracelets which would more quickly increase their inventory and selection for their buyers.

On Monday when we returned, Meda (one of the group’s most active weavers) very proudly showed us this prototype. They asked us if we liked it and would buy it, and we all placed an order for at least one before leaving. They even allowed us to pick our color palette, so we look forward to seeing the next iteration of this new product. We also have not seen this kind of product during this trip nor in years past, so it seems promising. Let us know if you’d like one and how much you would pay for it!

Yet another example of how motivated this group is demonstrating to be…

During the spring semester course at Parsons, Designing Collaborative Development, our student team prototyped ideas they felt could benefit the group of artisan women in Santiago Zamora.  The overarching idea was to promote their village as a tourist destination with a series of activities and workshops that the group would run for tourists.

Upon our arrival in Santiago Zamora last Friday we learned that the group already has such a program so we thought the next step should be to experience what they already offer and then figure out how we could build on their existing program, offer them our constructive criticism, and support what they have already designed (an ideal way to integrate our suggestions into the workings of the cooperative.)

Thus, Monday afternoon, we arrived to Santiago Zamora, not as the team from DEED, but as a group of tourists.  This photo essay describes the wonderful 4-hour program they had prepared for us.

We arrived to find their back room (outdoors with a roof), transformed into a gallery of woven products. It was quite the display!

They started off explaining the sute (a Mayan type of shawl that is woven on a backstrap loom.) On the left you see one worn by single women, and on the right, once they are married (much more intricately designed.) It takes them about 9 months to weave one of the intricately designed ones.

(The photo essay continues, click the link below.)
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We want to help Ixoki A’J Quiemo L’ (the Mayan weavers cooperative in Santiago Zamora) brand themselves so as to create stronger promotional materials for them to distribute in Antigua and attract more tourists to their village.

Here are some ideas we developed this weekend and which we will present to the group tomorrow.  The colors were extracted from the colors of their woven goods, the combination of typefaces was to emphasize the high quality with the handmade, and the patterns were both a reference to weaving as well as (particularly the last one here on the right), the mountains which are part of the village’s gorgeous landscape.

Which is your favorite logo?  1,2,3,4?  Leave us a comment and help us decide!

We have divided our days into doing field research around Antigua, which is the most touristy city in Guatemala, full of cafés, restaurants, and of course, tourists studying spanish and looking for interesting day excursions in nearby areas.  It is those tourists that we believe we can invite to visit Santiago Zamora and visit the group with whom we are working.

Despite Santiago Zamora’s proximity to Antigua (30 minutes in a private car, or 45 via public transportation), no one we interviewed had even heard of the village.  Most travel agencies didn’t even know where it was geographically, and if we search on the internet we cannot seem to find one good map showing where it is.

So, that will be our task for this week – to support the work that was already started by our collaborators in Santiago and to let the tourist industry in Antigua know about Santiago.  We want to, literally, help them put themselves on the map!

Friday afternoon was our first visit to Santiago Zamora with the artisan group with whom we are working.  After a wonderfully folkloric trip on the jam-packed public bus, we arrived to San Antonio Aguas Calientes from where we then took a small van to our final destination.

We met with 6 of the 8 women who now constitute Ixoki A’J Quiemo L’ (in Kaqchikel, which translates to “Native Women Weavers.”)  Consistent with our experience in San Lucas Tolimán, the association that was established last summer by 15 women, has now been reconfigured as a cooperative with a new name and with half of the participants.

We kicked off the session with an icebreaker activity after which Maria gave us an update on their work.  They seem to be highly motivated and have already designed flyers which they distribute in Antigua (just 30 minutes away and full of tourists.)  We were happy to learn that they’ve established a collaboration with one spanish school instructor who, about once a month, visits the women in Santiago Zamora with a group of students (ie. tourists!)  Maria told us about their programming that they plan for tourists which includes explanations of their culture, a reenactment of a Mayan wedding, a lecture on natural medicine, and a demonstration of their craft (such as weaving on the backstrap loom.)

Our student team presented the various ideas that we have been discussing and how we could best help the cooperative attract more visitors and increase the sale of their products.

We ended our session with a review of all of their products, eager to immerse ourselves in a productive collaborative project starting on Monday.  Before then, we’re using the weekend to start prototyping the ideas that we discussed.

This is the summer 2010 team that will be working in Antigua and Santiago Zamora, Guatemala until late June.  This year we have 7 students and 1 faculty member, all from Parsons.

From left to right, front row: Mindy Tom (BFA Product Design), Arielle Paredes (BFA Integrated Design), Brianna Morris (BBA Design and Management), Cynthia Lawson (Assistant Professor, School of Design Strategies); back row: Aakriti Kumar (BFA Product Design), Tatom Henrich (BFA Product Design), Isabella Amstrup (BFA Integrated Design), and Hashel Al Lamki (BFA Architectural Design).

This morning we had our first work session – a meeting to plan our first visit to Santiago Zamora on Friday afternoon.  We are all eager for the visit, and this afternoon students are doing field research in Antigua – half of the team is visiting each tourist shop they see, to get a sense of the current product market here in Antigua.  The other students are visiting each travel agency in town, to understand what kind of community tourism packages are already being offered and how we can best support the community in Santiago Zamora in attracting tourists to their village.

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.