Saturday, October 17, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-COLOMBIA: Annual Showcase for Crafts-cum-Art
Yadira Ferrer
- Colombia’s urban dwellers, peasant farmers and indigenous communities are taking advantage of the Expoartesanías crafts fair this month to exhibit their best hand-made decorative and practical objects, expressions of their unique cultures.
The two-week Expo, ending Dec. 18, has turned into a "must-see" event for many Colombians and foreign visitors.
Some 800 exhibitors have been set up at the Bogotá venue, the Corporación de Ferias (Corferias), to take part in this unique showing of items made from ceramics, wood, metal, cloth and wicker, the coordinators of the event told IPS.
Lucy Cajiao, Expoartesanías director, said that one of the main attractions is the "Casa Colombiana" project, whose central theme is coffee.
"Casa Colombiana" is based on studies of innovation and design that seek to promote decorative products made with quality, native materials for sale on the international market.
The project is the result of a study of more than 40 artisans of Colombia’s central coffee-growing region who use shapes and textures associated with the cultivation of the bean or with other materials from the region.
Some of these local materials are ‘fique’ (a plant fibre used in making rope), ‘guadua’ (a cane plant similar to bamboo), seeds, wool and wicker, which were used to produce decorative or useful objects.
Cajiao explained that for this year’s Expo, an especially careful selection was made of arts and crafts to be exhibited, taking into account such factors as cultural value, quality of production and ecological responsibility.
"The crafts are characterised by the fact that they maintain in essence the elements of ancestral cultures and the identity of the communities producing the items," Carlos García, an architect specialising in home interior design, explained to IPS.
García commented that he visits the Expoartesanías each year to take advantage of the event to purchase Christmas gifts that are unique and representative of Colombian culture.
"The artisan seeks to create a taste of daily life, so ideas materialise in objects like landscapes, sculptures or wood carvings, which traditionally have been used to transmit their cultural roots from generation to generation," he said.
Exhibitor Justiniano Alfonso, who runs a family leather business, noted that the fair is not only a space to show off the crafts, but also a venue for making contacts with the external market.
Alfonso’s team makes decorative or utilitarian items, though no more than 20 of each model are produced. Prices vary from 12 dollars for a small tray to 550 dollars for a large table.
Magazine racks, compact disk holders, desk accessories, picture frames and other impeccably finished objects round out the Alfonso family business’s presence at Expoartesanías.
He does not hesitate to say that the Bogotá fair has confirmed for him the importance of quality control and final presentation, and "above all, the added cultural value that crafts have."
Cecilia Duque, manager of the state enterprise Arts and Crafts of Colombia, which in partnership with the Export Promotion Fund and Corferias are responsible for Expoartesanías, says the fair is a great opportunity to prove that "there has been notable progress" in Colombian craftwork.
This achievement could be seen at the Andean Crafts Fair, held in Bogotá in October, which drew 37 international buyers from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Japan and the United States, and 41,300 visitors, reports Duque.
Duque noted the international interest in the products made from natural silk offered by women weavers from Quinchía, in the central department of Risaralda, and the decorative candles produced by a micro-enterprise in Manizales, in the also central department of Caldas.
With consumers in industrialised countries growing tired of mass-produced items, the leaders of the crafts movement in Colombia are hoping to fill a niche with their unique products, which are attractive and serve specific functions, as well as transmitting the culture of this South American country.
Despite the industrialisation process of the major urban centres, the number of people in Colombia dedicated to producing hand-made items is enormous, according to the fair organisers.
In this country of 44 million people, more than a million make their living from producing crafts, and 70 percent of that total are women.
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/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-COLOMBIA: Annual Showcase for Crafts-cum-Art
Yadira Ferrer
- Colombia’s urban dwellers, peasant farmers and indigenous communities are taking advantage of the Expoartesanías crafts fair this month to exhibit their best hand-made decorative and practical objects, expressions of their unique cultures.
(more…)
Print
|
/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-COLOMBIA: Annual Showcase for Crafts-cum-Art
Yadira Ferrer
- Colombia’s urban dwellers, peasant farmers and indigenous communities are taking advantage of the Expoartesanías crafts fair this month to exhibit their best hand-made decorative and practical objects, expressions of their unique cultures.
(more…)
Print
|
