Sumaq-Qara-Association

Artisan Organization: Sumaq Qara Association

Country: Peru

"We are Sumaq Qara, a Quechua phrase that means ‘Beautiful Leather.’ We work in the name of our father, who was an artisan who worked leather and sold it as a material. As children, we would collect leather scraps and make bracelets out of them that we sold in school. After many years of living in Lima, we returned to our native Ayacucho and decided to make something different for those who had lost everything during the tough times of Peru, such as the era of terrorism.

"We are a family, and together we have formed a beautiful association alongside entrepreneurial and strong women that accompany us in this path of textile art. We consider ourselves to be committed to our great social and environmental labor. We work as collaborators, but above all, we create this art with a lot of passion and love.

"Our dreams are to continue growing as people, as a family, and as a community, contributing to the socioeconomic development of all of our members in order to become the best that we can be, not only at the national level, but at the international level. We have worked together for more than 15 years, working very hard with consistency and perseverance in order to continue improving and achieving superior levels of quality.

"We love being able to portray our creativity and put into practice everything that nature offers us, resulting in very precious pieces. We want our clients and all the people that use our pieces to love them as much as we do.

"One challenge is preserving our ancestral art of hand embroidery in each detail of our pieces. For us, the greatest source of inspiration is Mother Nature, who plays a very important role in our day-to-day life. We reflect this happy and colorful life, which is filled primarily with a lot of energy and hope for the future.

"The most challenging and difficult part about our art is being able to preserve the passion that we work with. It requires a lot of strength to rise above each obstacle in order to continue growing.

"We are happy to be part of NOVICA and its incredible international family.""