Artisan Development

Here you can get information and updates on Sharing the Dream’s Artisan Development project.

Isabel and Diana will be running this workshop, taking the groups to visit Antigua and Guatemala and learning how to do market research.  They will do shop investigations, looking at how products are displayed and how they are grouped together and marketed and assessing the market level of each shop they visit.  They will also learn how to ask handle a questionnaire to find out information directly from shoppers. 

The producer groups will then carry out a design project where they will design a collection of products for a defined market. 

For the weaving groups we shall be teaching the groups how to integrate beading into their weaving either for fringing or in the main part of the weaving. 

We shall be taking the groups that have not been to the thread factory to visit and learn about prices, transport, minimum orders etc.

The design workshops are a new project that was created because the artisans came with ideas of learning more about improving their products. There are many different types of workshops. The groups can learn about the requirements and standards of a national market and find new markets through the “Labels and Catalogs” workshop. “Colors and Trends” is another workshop which provides information about colors, theory, and how to use the colors through an international market. Artisans also learn about costs and how to work with the prices of their products to become more efficient through costs workshops. Technical assistance to the textile artisans is provided to help the weavers develop their abilities and creative skills.

The past year four groups were chosen to work with the design team to improve their crafts. Through the program the groups’ specific needs were identified. For example, the AMMID group’s most critical need was a new weaving center. Dalesburg Lutheran Church in Vermillion, SD, provided funds to make this new weaving center a possibility. The women of the AMMID group have said that the new weaving center has changed their lives. The continuation of the workshops will further benefit the groups in Guatemala.