Susie took us on a textile journey through Mexico. Peru, Ecuador and briefly to Africa.
She had taken a degree in textile art which had been the basis of her work. A simple technique for making handmade paper was a starting point and, when she was sent to Africa with the Church Development Trust, this developed into a social enterprise for disadvantaged peoples, first in Uganda and later in Tanzania, using the water hyacinth – a problem plant growing there. Elephant dung was also able to be turned into paper, due to the high vegetable fibre diet of the elephant! Ten years later, this small project had grown to provide work for 120 disadvantaged people, who also created a café and a work shop.
Then, after the birth of her first child, she established a paper making workshop in Mexico – high in the Andes. While there she was introduced to the types of textiles, highly decorated for everyday use, made on back strap looms by the women. This became her new focus. There were motifs hand stitched or free sewn on a simple machine embellishing the narrow material widths the portable back strap loom could produce, and made into simple, but beautiful, garments. These widths could be sewn together for blankets, the patterns for which were worked from memory and passed down the generations. When the Spanish arrived, in the 16th century, they had introduced heavier wooden looms – usually worked by the men – that could weave different widths of cloth, but which were static.
Susie was able to show us a wide variety of textiles which she had collected -some beautifully embroidered with the back of the fabric as beautiful as the front. The blankets – or Manta – from natural dyes and llama or alpaca wool, were brightly-coloured and could be used as baby carriers, shawls, shopping carriers, or a way of keeping warm high in the Andes.
In Ayechecho, the local tradition of knitting by men included beaded work in intricate and colourful patterns. From Peru and Ecuador, Susie collected textiles and the craft workshops established there gave work to 21 people, produced hand-made paper eventually sold in the capital, Quito, and goods which were eventually sold in London and Harrogate. The birth of Susie’s second child, with Downes syndrome, meant she took a step back and the Ecuador project eventually closed down. The skills learned there by local people have been useful in transferring to other businesses. The Peru project still runs.
Artizan International has given people opportunities, an income, dignity and self respect which they otherwise would not have had. Disabilities have been overcome and traditional ways of making a variety of crafts have been preserved. We were delighted she could bring some of her ideas and textiles to show us.