Artisans
Esperanza en Accion works with approximately 25 different artisan groups throughout the country. Our fair trade partnerships are now empowering more than 1,000 people throughout Nicaragua.
Our concept of an artisan is one person working alone in their workshop or home. In Nicaragua most artisans work cooperatively within their families, each person has their own part of the process and they work together.
All artisans we work with are living in poverty and have few resources to be able to develop their small businesses or make contacts with buyers outside of the country.
Artist/Group: El Timal Location: Cristo Rey, Tipitapa, Nicaragua Medium: Recycled Chip Bag Purses
A refugee settlement was established in January 2009 of families that had been living on the lakeshore of Managua. Their homes were flooded when the water level rose and the government promised them a dignified living space just outside of Managua in a town called Tipitapa. The families were moved to Tipitapa only to find that they had been moved to an empty pasture with no water, no trees and no opportunities for work. Yamileth Perez, Director of Programs for Esperanza en Accion, was intimately involved with the relocation these families and decided that she wanted to help find alternative work options for a group of women from the refugee settlement.
Esperanza en Accion decided to teach a group of 8 women how to make small purses out of recycled chip bags which would give them the opportunity to support themselves and their families while working at home. This project has been a success and the women are slowly gaining confidence in their work and their ability to be their own bosses, something which most of them had never done previously.
Artist/Group: Juan Paulino, Location: San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua, Medium: Clay
Juan Paulino did not always work in ceramics, before starting in the creative process of ceramics he was a shoemaker. His wife, Azucena had grown-up working with clay and at her insistence Juan Paulino decided to try working together with his wife to see if they could make a living. Today they are famous throughout the town of San Juan de Oriente for their fine craftsmanship and Juan Paulino has traveled outside of Nicaragua representing his country.
Artist/Group: Guadalupe Norori, Location: San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua Medium: Clay
Guadalupe grew up in a family of ceramic artists, but she didn't learn the trade until she was fourteen and had saved enough money by selling food on the street to be able to afford to take a class and learn. Guadalupe worked together with her husband who was also a ceramicist. When he died Guadalupe was initiated into the same cooperative where her husband had previously been a member and began supporting herself and her five children through this income.
To read Guadalupe's story click HERE.
Artist/Group: Jacobo Potosme Norori Location: San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua Medium: Clay
Jacobo learned from his mother Guadalupe Norori, although similar to Guadalupe he didn't start learning until he was 12 years old. Jacobo is passionate about his work, each piece he makes is different and his quality continues to improve dramatically as he works in a variety of different styles of his choosing.
Artist/Group: Darwin Calero Location: San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua Medium: Clay
Darwin learned to work in ceramics from his parents. Darwin has two children and works with his wife in their house made of black plastic. Esperanza en Accion began working with him two and half years ago when he didn't even have a space of his own for his wife and children. He supports himself and his family exclusively through the sale of his artwork which are generally geometric pots. Darwin was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to participate in an international activity in Costa Rica in 2008.
Artist/Group: Francis Cano Location: San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua Medium: Clay
Francis Cano learned to work with clay from her grandparents and parents, a trade she is now passing down to her own daughters. She makes small whistles in the form of animals as well as water whistles that sound like birds when they are filled and blown on. Francis works in her home with her daughters who help her to make the whistles after they come home from school. When Esperanza en Accion began workign with Francis she was living in a house made of black plastic. Since that time she has been slowly building her home out of concrete, and although still is not finished she has been working to improve it as she is able.
Artist/Group: Colectivo Esperanza Location: Jalapa, Nicaragua Medium: Pine Needle Baskets
The Colectivo Esperanza is a collective of women from five communities around Jalapa Nicaragua. The majority of them are single mothers. In three of the five communities the alternative for these women when they are not making baskets is to work in the production of harvesting coffee or cutting tobacco. The cooperative Esperanza was among the first groups that Esperanza en Accion began working with and we have been helping them to improve their designs and quality by providing examples of higher quality baskets from other cooperatives in Nicaragua.
Artist/Group: Expoventa Location: San Juan de Limay, Nicaragua Medium: Soapstone
Expoventa is a cooperative men that have been working together for more than 18 years located in the mountains beyond Esteli in a small town called San Juan de Limay. The majority of them represent the only person in their family that is able to earn an income for their families. They work in soapstone, and each member with their own designs that they exclusively work in. In addition to selling to Esperanza en Accion they participate in national artistic expositions and also sell to intermediaries who frequently arrive in their small town to take advantage of their beautiful work. They are also part of an organization has established a small store located on the Panamerican highway where they can sell their products.
Artist/Group: Colectivo Rio Abajo Location: San Juan de Limay, Nicaragua Medium: Clay Jewelry
The collective of Rio Abajo is composed of women who work in their homes making a variety of items out of clay. They make rustic pottery that is both utilitarian and decorative with designs that range from flower pots to jewelry. The collective lacks contacts where they can sell their pieces, although they have benefitted from the help and connections made through Esperanza en Accion as well as Potters for Peace.
Artist/Group: Cristian Alaniz Location: Somoto, Nicaragua Medium: Oil Paintings
Cristian has never taken a painting class in his life, but has a natural artistic talent which is astounding. When Esperanza en Accion first began working with Cristian he had not yet begun marketing his talent. Now he is one of the more well known painters in Somoto, every hotel has both small paintings and murals done by Cristian. With the help of his work and his experience in fair trade Cristian has improved his family home, where once it was made of wood and falling down around them it is now made of concrete and is well constructed. We are also celebrating with Cristian as he recently became a father for the first time.
Artist/Group: Pinos Fabretinos Location: San Jose de Cusmapa, Nicaragua Medium: Pine Needle Baskets
Pinos Fabretinos is a cooperative that was founded with the help of the Fabretto Foundation. It is made up of only women, some of whom are single mothers. Of the three groups that Esperanza en Accion works with that makes pine needle baskets they have the highest quality and as a result of the cooperation from the Fabretto Foundation have been able to maintain themselves organized and well connected with various contacts in the national and international communities. All of the women work in their own homes making the baskets, although they do have a small office where they are able to store their product and even have a computer to work with.
Artist/Group: Cooperativa El Chile Location: El Chile, Nicaragua Medium: Handwoven purses, bags etc
This cooperative is made up of single women that are from communities surrounding El Chile, a poor rural area outside of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The cooperative was begun more than 20 years ago by an Argetinian woman who brought her knowledge of weaving and design to help these women develop a trade in their small community. The majority of the women have even a long walk to get to El Chile. They have a space where they weave cloth and then cut and sew it to make woven bags, change purses, pot holders and other functional household items.
Artist/Group: Jimmy Hermida Location: San Ramon, Nicaragua Medium: Seed Jewelry
Jimmy is a young man who benefited from a program known as 'Los Quinchos,' a program that helps youth recover from drug addiction. During his time with Los Quinchos he began to learn how to make jewelry out of local seeds and contacted Esperanza en Accion to sell his work to the organization. Since that time Jimmy has not only continued to make beautiful work but he has also taken it upon himself to teach other young people to make seed jewelry so that they can support themselves through their work.
Artist/Group: Colectivo Loma Panda Location: Somoto, Nicaragua Medium: Clay
The Loma Panda collective is located in an extremely rural community that is not accessible by vehicle. It is made up of 5 sisters who, similar to many other artisans, learned their work from their forefathers. They work exclusively in a rustic style of clay making decorative clay dolls and utilitarian pieces such as mugs and bowls. The pieces have no paint, they use only the natural color of the clay. Development of the collective is difficult as they have few opportunities for sales as a result of their isolated location.
Artist/Group: Mujeres Unidos Location: El Paso, Granada, Nicaragua Medium: Hand Embroidered Hankerchiefs
Mujeres Unidos (United Women) is located in a small community outside of the city of Granada, Nicaragua and has been organized for approximately 18 years. These women originally began working with the help ofa group of nuns that taught them to make rope dolls and bamboo baskets. After some time trying to sell these items they realized the market was not sufficient and instead began making cards with intricate thread designs with both traditional and more modern Nicaraguan scenes. In addition they have begun developing their work to include wall hangings that feature the same motifs as their cards. All of their work is done with a painstaking eye to detail as each they cut threads and then glue each individual thread next to each other to make their design.While in many cooperatives the women work in their homes Mujeres Unidos has a building where they can work together to make their products. They have various national contacts where they are able to sell their work in addition to Esperanza en Accion.
Artist/Group: Mujeres Construyendo un Futuro Location: Malacatoya, Granada, Nicaragua Medium: Thread design Greeting Cards
The groups Mujeres Construyendo un Futuro (Women building the Future) also formed with the help of the same nuns that helped Mujeres Unidos form their cooperative. Mujeres Construyendo un Futuro makes hand embroidered hankerchiefs that often feature designs of Nicaraguan men and women dancing or working together.
Artist/Group: Colectivo Cipres Negro Location: Somotillo, Nicaragua Medium: Pine Needle Baskets
This is a group of 13 women and 2 men that make pine needle baskets in a rural area of Nicaragua. The majority of the women are working to support their families that have no less than 4 children each. While many artisans develop their products as a result of raw materials that are located close to their homes these women have to purchase the pine needles required for their baskets because the area that they have access to is not large enough to provide the sufficient quantity of pine needles. Up to this point their quality has been much lower than the other two groups that make pine needle baskets, although Esperanza en Accion has been and continues to help them to improve their quality through a unique system developed to pay them more than the fair price for baskets that have higher quality than others.
Artist/Group: Ducuale Grande Location: Condega, Nicaragua Medium: Clay
Ducuale Grande is one of the cooperatives that is the most well organized that Esperanza en Accion works with. This cooperative is located in a rural community approximately 5 kilometers from Esteli, Nicaragua. It is made up of 11 women who have been organized for 19 years and are owners of their own cooperative. They have been able to make many contacts, both national and international. The artwork that they make is utilitarian and made up of natural clay, without any chemicals.
Artist/Group: Slightly Twisted Spoons Location: Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua Medium: Wood
Although Esperanza en Accion generally works exclusively with Nicaraguan artisans, there are a number of cases where there are foreigners that are helping to develop the capacity of the group or individual. In this case, Paul Mohally Renk has been teaching young men from his community how to make beautiful handcrafted wooden utensils from sustainably harvested wood from Nicaragua. These men are earning a fair wage and have the unique opportunity to learn about sustainble forestry while also gaining valuable skills in the process.
Artist/Group: Jesus Madriz Location: Managua, Nicaragua Medium: Woven bracelets
Jesus is a young artist who started learning to make bracelets at a young age for other young people in his barrio in Managua, Nicaragua. Soon he and his friends began exchanging techniques and improving their skills. Jesus was able to complete his high school but has not been able to continue studying for lack of funds.
Artist/Group: Guitarra de Madera Azul Location: Managua, Nicaragua Medium: Music, jewelry
This is a musical group made up of a husband and wife that sing and share popular national music of Nicaragua. In addition they make beautiful jewelry that we sell.
Artist/Group: Mujeres Ambientalistas Location: Esteli, Nicaragua Medium: Handmade recycled paper
The cooperative Mujeres Ambientalistas was started over 20 years ago in Esteli Nicaragua. They began working in the trash dump of Esteli helping to recycle the various products that were being thrown into the trash. After some years of working in recycling they began to also work in composting, using composting worms and teaching others in their community about the value of composting. More recently they began making recycled paper out of food waste such as banana leaves, beets, carrots, potato skins among other materials. They have also begun making this beautiful paper into journals, photo albums, cards and small gift boxes.
Artist/Group: Noel Madriz Location: Managua, Nicaragua Medium: Paintings
Noel is a man of 55 years who had the opportunity at a younger age to participate in art classes. He elaborates small drawings and paintings of popular Nicaraguan scenes that vary from a woman making tortillas, or a small Nicaraguan town or the killing of a pig for a celebration. Noel does not have his own house, he lives a nomadic life and does not have other locations that purchase his work, Esperanza en Accion is the only location that he sells to.