To better understand the ecosystem of the craft sector in Guatemala, we collected information of different scales: from policies made for benefiting exportation to detailed analysis of different business models. We synthesized the information on this ecosystem map.
Key Insight:
we couldn't know the voices of the artisans from accessible information. We identified this lacking as an important "missing piece" in our ecosystem map.
We conducted 2 workshops separately with 2 groups of artisans in San Jorge, one of the villages around Lake Atitlán. In the activities, we gained a holistic understanding of their lives, culture, short and long-term goals.
"the magic bag" activity: At the workshop, Artisans teamed up and picked a question card without seeing from the tote. In a given time, they discussed the question and either wrote or drew their answers on the card. They shared back their discussion in the ending session.
"time capsule" discussion: Except for asking questions about their status quo, we also brought the lens of future in the research in order to know their expectations about the future of their community. We introduced a fictional scenario where they are required to put 3 stuffs in a “time capsule” to send to their future generations.
Major Problem Area
artisans are losing their creative ability due to
the current production model.
Under this model, they no longer design patterns that reflect their identity and culture, which used to be the main source of artisans' creativity.
Opportunity Area
design through cultural expression
Most social enterprises who work in the craft industry use the red part of the system to fulfill their mission of empowering artisans. They focus on income incentive and education more than culture preservation and design training. We were hoping to embed artisans' traditional "design through cultural expression" process to the current production model, in order to empower artisans through a more holistic empowerment model.
