In 2009 we decided to start a symbolic journey guided by the Andes Mountains, the spine of much of this continent, to show Chile through its trades. Today, 12 years later, we want to extend our trip and travel the epic Pan-American Route. Calmly walk its 18,000 km long, on a huge journey, to show a small selection of wonderful pieces and crafts. We believe that it is time to invite more friends, to add more countries and to show that we are not an island but a huge continent of manual makers, artisans, craftsmen, cultivators and safeguards of centuries-old crafts, deeply rooted in our geography and culture. A primitive expression, whose materials come from the earth, its imagery from flora, fauna, mythological and religious beliefs, its uses come from festivals and from the necessity that became custom, all molded by the hands of men and women who do.
And Latin America shares the same history. A rich diversity of native peoples, a tumultuous colonial history that brought hybridity, syncretism, cultural mix and a beautiful common language. But the most transversal thing that unites this imaginary continent is its rich diversity of traditional trades that subsists in its rugged geography of young land, volcanoes, mountain slopes, valleys, mountains, punas and coasts.
From thick, humid jungles full of colorful birds, crossing salt flats and grasslands dotted with herds of elegant camelids, mountain ranges covered with llaretas, windy coasts of curved reeds, turquoise waters of icy rivers and tropical paradises, pampas that burn and snowdrifts that hurt. We will jump from south to north and from east to west to discover ourselves again and show a piece of each ancient America that remains alive in the hands of those who inhabit it.