![]() Something distinctive about the brand is that it manufactures traditional products but has adapted to current needs. ![]() This is how Sluch Metik was created, which is a textile company with identity, sales channels, and artisans with knowledge of finance. The result was a strategy to improve the skills of the artisans in brand promotion, distribution channels, finance, and models. “Our students understand that we’re not just helping, but we’re joining, collaborating, and learning from the communities. “ All innovation is validated by the community,” says Martha Velázquez, Director of CIS. In this experience, the CIS apprentices developed ideas to add to the weavers’ established projects. The artisans became training partners for the students, allowing them to learn about their problems and day-to-day lives.Ī training partner is a person or agency from the manufacturing or service sector, government, civil society, or community groups with whom the Tec establishes a long-term collaborative relationship through the Tec21 Model, which is based on learning based on challenges. It was inaugurated on October 26, 2018, in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. It was at this point that Tec de Monterrey students joined the fray, through the Center for Social Innovation (CIS).ĬIS aims to connect national and foreign students and universities who are willing to work together on social entrepreneurship projects. “We want fair pay for our work and that’s why we’ve come together,” explains Rosa. According to México's goverment, there are 1,459,648 people in Chiapas who speak an indigenous language.įor every 100 people who speak an indigenous language, 12 don’t speak Spanish. What’s more, most of the weavers don’t speak Spanish, as their mother tongue is Tzotzil and Tzeltal. For example, people refuse to pay a fair price because they compare the price with Chinese copies. Most of the artisans are faced with people “haggling” for their products. However, it is poorly paid.Īndrea pulls the strings, raising and lowering the threads to form geometric shapes in the garment. Each element has a meaning, and the weaving process could take days or years depending on the garment.įor example, a small garment such as a shawl takes 15 days to make, while a more detailed garment such as a traditional Huipil, could take from five months to one year.Īll this has garnered the art of the weavers from San Andrés Larráinzar worldwide recognition for its beauty and tradition. ![]() The result represents their culture, fauna, flora, and beliefs. In fact, some families have very old sample books and only dye their threads with plant extracts from their region. The secret of the technique has been carefully guarded by each generation and is practiced just as the ancient Mayans did (with improvements in some cases). They are trained by their mothers, grandmothers, or other more experienced women in their community. It then takes them about two years to master the technique. ![]() Rosa counts the threads and arranges them before she transfers them to the Mayan backstrap loom.Īccording to statistics from the Chiapas Institute of Handicrafts, 60% of the artisans in Chiapas are women, and most of them learn between the ages of 10 and 12. It is also the figure used as a logo by Sluch Metik, a textile company created by artisans from San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas, which is working with Tec de Monterrey’s Center for Social Innovation (CIS for its initials in Spanish). This is a symbol that uses geometric shapes to form a female figure associated with the Moon and the Virgin Mary. She says that the most difficult thing about this art is creating the “Holy Mother” figure. Rosa learned to use a backstrap loom at the age of 12, thanks to her mother Andrea. The technique she uses has been passed down from generation to generation by her people: the Maya.Įach thread of their embroidery tells the story of who they were and who they are now. Rosa’s hands move rhythmically as she intertwines and tightens hundreds of threads that run from a pole in her house to her waist.
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