Meet the Artisans

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Bazaar de la Paz is proud to present: Connections.

Connections is a new documentary series celebrating the skill and craftsmanship of fair trade artisans globally.  Artists are shown working in their own environments, providing viewers with an in-depth understanding of the varied techniques and materials used in their remarkable works of art.

This installment of Connections depicts the artisans of Tropical Salvage.

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Wire and Bead Makers from Zimbabwe

Bernard Domingo is the Founder of Domingo Wirecraft located in northern Zimbabwe. Bernard has been making wire & bead figurines for over 20 years. He works with a team of 12 other beaded wire art artisans painstakingly crafting their works from reused wire (offcuts from a factory in Zimbabwe) and small glass beads. The smaller pieces can take the artists approximately half an hour to make, whereas a larger figurine can take up to four hours to craft.

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The Carpenters and Carvers of Indonesia

Tropical Salvage transforms old wood into new opportunities for positive social, economic, and environmental change.

Tropical Salvage operates in Indonesia where talented local artisans build, carve, and finish furniture to sell in the United States and Canada. Old wood and new use equal positive change. Tropical Salvage applies 3 principal wood salvage strategies. They reclaim wood from DEMOLITION SITES where old buildings, houses, or bridges have been razed. They salvage still standing but dead trees from areas where FOREST FIRES have destroyed forests, burning everything to ash except the biggest, densest trees. And, unique to Tropical Salvage alone, they MINE TREES from beneath the ground, where for centuries, entire forests have laid buried by the consequences of volcanic eruptions. After we aquire the wood, we clean, cut and kiln-dry it. One consequence of using salvaged woods can be a higher incidence of surface irregularities in finished products. The wood is some 30 to 500 years old. Time and history have scarred it. The effects of nails, seasoning cracks, bore holes, and other stresses are evident in some of the products. We regard the irregularities as a wonderful testament to the wood's historical richness and revived use.

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Viver De Arte - ana Maia

Through her use of indigenous designs culled from nature and the sacred rituals of the native population, Ana Maia has created a line of truly unique and amazing lamps which serve as an artistic expression of beauty and contemporary living.  Many models, based upon the mythology of ancestral cultures, are designs hand cut with a surgical scalpel. They exhibit classic spacing and formats seen only in her work.  By substituting the artist's traditional canvas with hand made vegetable parchment from the oldest and most traditional mills in both Italy and France, Ana Maia has created an effect heretofore unparalleled in this medium.  Thus, the synthesis of these many components has resulted in a piece of fine art with the unique signature of Ana Maia.

Her wall hangings are hand painted with acrylic pain on recycled canvas from truck covers.  They are 100% cotton, and each individually hand painted and hand sewn by the artist.

All of Ana Maia�s works are finished with her original signature.

Viver de Arte Coordinates a host of small companies and artisans throughout the northeast of Brazil.  Viver de Arte was born in 1995 under the aegis of two sisters Ana Maia and Rosa Maria Piatti.  Begun as a small endeavor, Viver de Arte is proud to note that it now supports over 40 full time artisans -- many from poor communities as they raise the quality of life on so many levels. In addition, they are able to provide work to countless numbers of others who are able to work from home on a part-time basis and still care for their families.  

Surprising, impacting, penetrating and breaking boundaries.  Viver de Arte has become both, a road to freedom as well as a way of life!

�The work pieces of Ana Maia have a content. Soul.
They transcend vision and touch.
Beyond beauty and originality, they have a special ingredient:

The energy of the gifted young artists hands that Ana Maia discovered in the suburb of the city.

Under the coordination of Ana Maia, those
�ex-graffiti makers� developed their talent, and, doing so, successfully LIVE OF ART.�

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The Teabag Artisans

This community of artisans live in an informal settlement located in Mandela Park, outside of Cape Town in South Africa. Here, these creative artisans use recycled tea bags as their canvases. Each tea bag is carefully handpainted to become a unique work of art and then is transformed into a gift piece.

Used tea bags are collected and dried in the African sun. Then they are emptied of leaves and carefully ironed. Finally, each tea bag is painstakingly painted. The group gathers together to assemble the finished products: greeting cards, notepads, journals, ornaments, candles, coasters, trinket boxes, and tea light holders. They'll make special designs by request, but ordinarily they just paint "what is in our heads".

The money the artists earn is a vital part of family income: this project now helps support 124 people!  One of the artisans, Nomsa, recently earned enough money from painting tea bags to move from an inadequate shack to a solid new house. Nomsa said, �The most wonderful thing in the world is hearing the rain on the roof and knowing that my children are warm and dry.�

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The Potters of Nicaragua

This small community of farmers in San Juan de Oriente began experimenting with the wheel several decades ago. Over the last 30 years, the pottery of this community has passed through several phases and has evolved into something quite eclectic. In the last decade, many of the potters from this community have received worldwide recognition for their work. The pieces are inspired by traditional pre-Columbian designs, as well as, outside influences from the array of international potters that have participated in Potters for Peace exchanges. The potters use mineral oxides, mainly chrome, cobalt, and iron, to color the vases. They fire them at low temperatures in brick kilns. Most of the artisans in this village work in small family groups. Once a year, San Juan de Oriente holds a pottery competition and the potters work long hours to produce a unique award-winning entry.

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The Weavers of Cambodia

Talented seamstresses/seamsters in Cambodia handcraft one-of-a-kind totes and carry-alls from recycled rice and fish food bags.  Sewing details include box stitching at stress points and padded handles.  Once sewing is complete, the bags are colorized such that they beautifully fade with wear.

Each product sold provides a sustainable living to Cambodian weavers and producers, many of whom are female heads of households, disabled due to polio or landmine injury or young women pulled from brothels and taught a trade.