Handmade Orange-Grey Cotton Luggage Identifier from Peru - Triple Orange

Artisan Organization: Ledda Galvez

Country: Mexico

Latest Update

"I have been part of the Novica family since 2007. My art over time has surpassed itself. In fact it is an art that I have been developing for a few years with some collaborators in my workshop in Lima. Some of my students come to Lima, and I send others work. I taught classes in rural areas, and to this day the students visit me in Lima.

"I would say that progress has been seen in quality, productivity and the use of natural materials such as 100% cotton, not in all products but in some of them. I still carry out my work in the same place as when I started, but I had it remodeled because everyone came to shop in the middle of the workshop. So I prepared the 1st floor as the store for the public while the 3rd floor is for production.

"I hope to continue with great optimism despite this pandemic and to continue to be part of Novica that supports art so much. A few years ago we improved the designs or prototypes and then adapted them to a simple production process. Everything is a matter of creativity. I design the product and create a re-design that is my prototype in production. Sometimes I make it with collaborators, sometimes alone--it depends. I always respect the creative process of my collaborators, and they respect my creative process. It is healthy productive competition; it sounds demanding but it is very challenging. In some processes I am not very productive and I receive substantial help.

"I have run into my own design challenges; that is where I resort to the genius of the collaborators. From them I receive key solutions, because there is always a process that they handle better than me, and vice-versa. In general, I can say that they all respect that talents are different and that we can all win, as long as the product is of high quality. The greatest of all the challenges is the product. Everything is handmade, so I analyze the designs I made and I correct the designs. And I love the collaborators, especially those who take the bus to travel to Lima to come to the workshop.

"My work has improved in many ways, especially my discipline in making product categories with the exact color, form and design, because it is a catalog, and the client expects to receive what he saw in the photo. Novica has accompanied me in all my creative adventures; they have welcomed my products, my inventions and my follies. When I joined Novica I really needed an opportunity; I was in a wheelchair after an accident and I couldn't walk for a few months. Novica gave me the opportunity to show that I could do it, that I could be productive from my bed or from my wheelchair. I will not forget that, because not everyone receives an opportunity in that situation. That opportunity was for me, and is still in my heart, and if during all these years I was ever discouraged, I soon felt more than rewarded and encouraged again. I really appreciate being me, and that Novica saw me as I was--a human being who only wanted to offer an art, a message, something of me to you. To talk about what I wanted to talk about, about my love for crafts, for the art of the people, for their ancestral knowledge and for their original designs. In this difficult stage of the pandemic, my goals are to reinvent my product line."

Original Artist Story

"My full name is Ledda Monica Galvez Impicciatori and I was born in Peru on 14 November 1972. For the first years of my life I lived happily with my grandmother, then my parents and I moved to another house with a garden, where I grew up quite happily too.

"My dad is a very creative man and paints beautifully, whereas my mother, a creative person as well, is an amateur photographer. I studied Foreign Commerce and Economy. I love art and finances.

"I come from an artistic family: my dad, my sister, and my uncles are involved in the art world. My grandmother, Cristina Gálvez, is a renowned artist in Peru. I took my first adventures in the art world in the early 1990's. Thanks to my job I was in contact with artists, artisans and designers who taught me how to combine art, beauty and marketing. They taught me about handcrafting processes and the achievement of high quality.

"I've loved art ever since I was little girl. I would be constantly drawing and painting, and I am a photography aficionado. All of my life, I've always been creating new things.

"Handcrafts are not something you sit down and study. You learn through practice. It goes beyond beauty or functionality, it symbolizes a unique cultural link.

"I travel to relax and to learn. To me, the world of handcrafts is complex – it is filled with wisdom and beauty. I have an appreciation for beauty and I interpret the message of each of the items that come to my hands.

"One day I found an Andean wool doll in a local market, and I was greatly impacted by her face, which seemed to express pain and sorrow. I took it in my arms and then saw a little boy with beautiful rosy cheeks playing by my side, so I asked myself, 'where is the pain and sorrow of this boy playing here barefooted?' Suddenly I felt a great urge to express the child's happy expression in a new face, one that is happy and playful.

"Then, as if a miracle had happened, I received an order from a customer for a doll collection, and that's how my series of Andean dolls came to be. I design from what I see in my travels throughout Peru, where I meet wonderful children who tell me their life stories as well as Andean tales. These stories told by children inspire the design of my dolls, and each one has a story for you.

"When I was a little girl I used to love playing school with my sister. I loved to read and write, as well as to paint. I used to play the part of the teacher, teaching everything I had learnt. To this day, I still love to teach something new and innovative and I always share the stories I learn in my travels. I have organized many actualization courses for artisans and designers.

"My job is to communicate and teach all that I have learnt throughout my life and travels. My motivation comes from a love toward children, from recognizing they have place in this world, and from valuing their wisdom. Not all of them have the opportunity to receive an education, but they all have the right to express themselves and explain to the world the importance of laughing, of playing, and of loving. I try to transmit the ability to transform the vision that our history has given us in art and in handicrafts.

"My art is the most treasured gift that life has given me, because through it I can communicate to the world how wonderful and beautiful is our culture.

"The challenges I face are varied, like being a more tranquil and less traveling daughter; dedicating more time to my son and family; and to make time to accomplish all the projects I plan.

"I would like to tell Novica customers that Andean angels represent a link to Peru's history, culture and traditions. They are especially designed for you. Receive in your home today a child and you will see the face of an angel existing within each of us.""