Now Buy Salasacan Tapestries Directly From The Weavers.

For centuries the Salasacan weavers have been turning wool into clothing, but the tapestry is a relative new endeavor. Sometime in the last 50 or 60 years (my best guess), they discovered the potential for sales of more colorful woven items such as the very popular wall hangings that in recent years have garnered international acclaim for quality and beauty. Today however the number of weavers in this community of more than 12,000 people, have shrunk by as much as 80%. Many have moved to other parts of the country to pursue work in construction and other trades because there is more money to be made elsewhere.

When I learned how many hours it takes to weave a tapestry and the price they can sell it for, I see why there is an exodus of these fine craftsman. For example, my friend Lorenzo who is pictured with one of his products on a previous post, sells these for $22.00 to his wholesale customers who in turn sells them in the world famous markets in Otavalo. From there it ends up in homes all over the world. Depending on where you happen to shop they will cost anywhere from $40 up. His production is limited by the number of hours in the week as it takes him approximately 16 hours for each piece of this size. So you can see why the weavers are looking for a different line of work and it will be a sad day when the machine made products are the only choices available.

This morning I had a visit from three of the top weavers from Salasaca. They were looking for other ways to market their products as the competition between machine made and hand made pieces keep the prices low.

Hand made versus machine.
First of all, we are talking about two different products, even if at first glance, they look and feel the same. The machine made pieces vary in quality and precision depending on the machine. In many cases they are perfect replicas of an artists conception. They are all the same in their perfectness. With the hand made product there are differences....No two, of the same design, are exactly the same. There is an uniqueness to each of the hand made pieces even if they are the same design and created by same artist. There is a market for both.

Selling through the established channels or directly to the consumer.
At the present time many of the Salasaca weavers travel once a month to Otavalo to sell their work to a buyer who cleans, packages and puts on a label that says it is a product of Otavalo. There is no protection for the weaver who has created a new design. Once he sells his products he may, on his next trip to market find copies of his design. To counter this a weaver could weave into the design their name and date so they could establish a reputation, and in time, if their work is appreciated it can demand a higher price. The other consideration is to put a limit on each design that they make. For instance if they have a design that is truly different they could limit the number to say 200 and sign and number each piece. Once an artist established a reputation his limited editions could demand more money.

We believe there is a market for hand made pieces of exceptional quality so we are going to this new marketing strategy a try. We will introduce these three artists with a short bio and introduce the products via the Internet and market them to the end user. We will market these products through our new Sumac Kausay Yachay foundation who will add a small commission which will be used for our education program and library.

If you have ever been to Salasaca or Otavalo, and bought or wished you had bought more of these beautiful works of art...you now have a second chance.
Here are three hand woven stock designs that are available on an on-going basis.

I will have more pictures soon and you will be able to order direct from the maker.