It took us a while to find this sleepy village high in a mountain. To reach it, we drove nine ours to the capital of Oaxaca, then another three to sleep in El Refugio (a place where women and families have come for over 20 years to give birth naturally). Next morning we drove again for a bit and after a couple of hours roaming around, there we were, looking at treasure.
The cotton is grown organically (with no pesticides) in the coast, after harvest it is driven all the way up to the mountain where the people employed by Khadi project make it into threads using the gandhi weels that many have at home now. After that, the threads are naturally dyed and hanged in the sun to dry. When they are ready, the threads are carefully hand spun into fabric in a pedal loom. Local carpenters have also built wooden pedal looms in order for workers to create fabrics in their own homes. Every step along this long way makes the product look beautiful in its present state, whether is a cotton ball, threads, the finished fabric… it all looks so earthy and perfect, like the way it was supposed to be all along.
After producing the fabric, then an artisan (yet another one) will come to pick it up to take home and work on the finishing designs to create the clothing. All of this by paying fair wages and empowering the local community.
The treasure is not the incredible taste, quality or the beauty of these pieces, but the new kindergarden that the project has put into place, the natural construction houses that people live in, the vegetable gardens, the flowers everywhere; it is the harmony and peace of making something beautiful and taking the time to do it the right way.
Some of these finds are still in the shop, please check the clothing section.
A special thank you to Alicia, her great kids and of course, Marcos, for leading us to this find.
