This month, I am delighted to share an exciting opportunity to travel to Oaxaca from May 15 to 22 alongside filmmaker and professor Carolyn Kallenborn and Ana Paula Fuentes, Founding Director of the Textile Museum of Oaxaca.

It's an interactive journey through which you’ll explore the rich textile culture of Oaxaca, meet talented artisans, participate in hands-on activities, bond with like-minded travelers, and eat some of the best food in the world. This is a unique opportunity to be immersed in Oaxaca's culture, beauty, and craft.

I’ve known Ana for years and her depth of knowledge for artisans and the region second to none. I have no doubt this will be an unforgettable experience and a memorable way to explore this part of the world.

This week, I am delighted to feature the work of Creative Women. They have been building sustainable partnerships with skilled artisans since 2007, gracefully combining modern designs with traditional production methods, using the finest recycled and sustainably harvested materials. If you are a retailer or large wholesaler looking to find a new partner for wooden home accents, this is a great source!

Creative Women has two strong new collections that we wanted to share with you. This is the first of two emails we'll be sharing this month. 

This week, I am delighted to feature the second new collection conceived and brought to life by Maura Kroh Lall, the founder of Creative Women. Since 2007, she has been dedicated to cultivating sustainable partnerships with skilled artisans across Kenya. I consider her an invaluable resource for retail and wholesale buyers alike, particularly those interested in ethically sourced wooden home accents.

This week, I am delighted to share a conversation with Kavita Parmar and Marcella Echavarría, co-founders of XTANT, which has become a beautiful, inspiring, emerging artisan fair and educational program that takes place annually on the island of Mallorca. The show features the work of master artists and includes a week-long program of conversations and exhibitions around the intricacies of the artisan sector. It’s been described as “an exciting mix of Burning Man, a TED talk, and a village fair.” The focus for Kavita and Marcella remains on providing a platform for master textile artists, some of whom are among the last generation to hold onto their traditional know-how. "We aim to celebrate them as the rock stars they are,” they told me. “For us, textiles are texts that represent the next frontier of modern art.”

This past winter, I ventured to northern Portugal alongside one of the partners I represent. We journeyed to the far north of the country to hand-select new vintage pieces and explore the area’s production capabilities for wool, linen, and basketry. 

This month, I'm delighted to share with you another interview with Maud Lerayer, of Behind of Hill. I have been following Maud's brand for quite some time and what caught my eye was her focus on working with one artisan enterprise in Guatemala, and going deep with storytelling, and a focus on sourcing the highest materials that she is able. There is a story of people, material, and of course, her line of products is beautiful. Maud was born and raised in France but a journey to Mexico in 2003 was life-changing. That was where the seed to start her business working with artists in Guatemala and Mexico was born. She now has a blossoming brand creating contemporary textiles using a variety of heirloom color grown cotton which grows wild, offering gorgeous shades of pink, terracotta, greens, and more. She works with artists who still grow, spin, and weave the cotton, the same way it has been done for centuries.