Artisans
The heart of Abrazo Style is the amazing collection of artisans who weave, embroider, and sew our products. Below is a collection of photos from Oaxaca and Chiapas that introduces some of the people who create the beautiful, handcrafted, fair trade verified products we offer. Stay tuned as we add more images and stories.
A number of embroiderers with their new reading glasses.
Paty is one of the corner stones of Abrazo. She was an embroidery student in our workshops before Abrazo officially came to be.Now, she is our head embroidery manager in charge of making drawings on paper come to life on fabric. This is her studio at home with books of Abrazo designs and color keys.
When embroiderers complete their work it is turned into their group leader and she then delivers it to our processing studio where each piece is quality checked, washed, ironed, tagged and packaged for export.
A gathering with some of the women we work with in Oaxaca. Each was given an Abrazo blouse to embroider in their own design...a very fun project.
A social gathering of some of the Oaxacan women we collaborate with to create our embroidered apparel.
When embroidery managers deliver the work from their groups to our studio in Oaxaca, occasionally a correction or amendment is necessary to the product. Rather than send it back to the embroiderer to fix at home, the group leader will often fix it on the spot. Here, we see the pin cushion of all pin cushions with different calipers of needles, thread colors, and combinations of thread colors to make the job easier.
Talented embroiderers of Oaxaca realize the intricate designs of the Abrazo collection. Each piece is a form of wearable art, bearing the signature style of each woman.
Some of our team enrolled in a pattern-making class.
Master embroiderer Rebeca working on one of our favorite summer tees.
Carmen and her husband José collaborate with Abrazo to create virtually all of our hand woven products. She comes from a long line of weavers in Mitla, Oaxaca. It is relatively rare for women to weave on the pedal loom due to its physicality. Here she is weaving our Carmen scarf.
Their home workshop in their shady garden is filled with traditional floor pedal looms which require a great deal of time to thread and prepare for the actual weaving process.
José is filling spindles with thread, used in the weaving process. They combine thread colors to create unique tones and effects in the weaving.
Paty, expert embroiderer and indispensable Abrazo team member, manages an embroidery group and creates finely embroidered products for our socially conscious customers.
Our San Pablo Etla embroidery group.
Alex teaching a workshop for weaving our handmade Etla totes. He travels to different communities teaching the technique so that we may offer job opportunities in remote communities of Oaxaca.
Weavers of our totes in a remote Mixe region of Oaxaca.
An Abrazo embroidery workshop where local women train to work with us.
Felipe from Oaxaca City has a thriving jewelry business. He creates all of our natural seed and stone jewelry, collecting many of the seeds himself. His designs can be found in stores along popular pedestrian routes of the city.