ICHIMAY WARI
Telling stories of migration through artisanry and Defending the values of Fair Trade
A village of artisans in the outskirts of Lima
Lurin is a small town south of Lima, about to be absorbed by the great Peruvian metropolis. While the fields give way to concrete constructions and the roads are filled with cars and motorcycles, some people try to keep a serene rhythm of life, as if the arrival of the city did not affect them.
It is this tranquility that can be felt in Maurelio Huaraca's workshop, in this inner courtyard where he is busy shaping and painting pottery with the support of his family. However, as he is keen to point out, he is not himself from Lurin. The name of his workshop, "Ichimay Huari", reflects his dual heritage: "Ichima" as the Amerindian people who inhabited the valley of Lurin and the nearby sanctuary of Pachacamac, "Huari" as the Andean people who inhabited the region of Ayacucho, where Maurelio comes from.
Defending the True Values of Fair Trade
Ichimay Huari is part of a community of 25 artisans who, together, have founded a "neighborhood of artisans" in Lurin, an initiative that has allowed them to attract a large and loyal clientele. A series of actions that are added to their membership in the CIAP ("Interregional Center of the craftsmen of Peru") to sell their products to an international market, at a fair price.
Maurelio underlines this: some European fair trade structures, under the pretext of making generous orders, question the fair price they owe to artisans. The Artisans du Monde movement, one CIAP's partners and a historical player for Fair Trade in France for almost 50 years, strives to follow up its partners individually, ensuring a transparent and lasting relationship. The volumes imported by Artisans du Monde remain modest and do not lend themselves to bitter negotiations. In addition, its WFTO guarantee, which labels not only the product but the entire fair trade sector, requires respect for the fair price without exception.
Artisanry that tells stories
Each of the objects that Maurelio produces tells a story, highlighted by the QR codes that accompany them on the shelves. Indeed, the craftsman's daughter, aware of her father's gifts as a storyteller, has been diligent in highlighting this past city of craftsmanship, even though she herself admits she doesn't have the energy to take up her father's trade.
Pottery in the shape of a bull, houses of terracotta where farmers rebuild the roof together (in this ancestral tradition of the Minka - community work)... All these products tell the memories of Maurelio's native region: Ayacucho. Andean land known today for its beauty and the talent of its craftsmen, but once infamous for having been the heart of the armed conflict with the Shining Path.
Maurelio, like many Ayacuchanos, had to flee the violence to settle in the capital. This diaspora has allowed the art of his region to become famous and recognized in the capital. But some people fear that its secrets will disappear with time. It is no mystery that, in the workshops he organizes in the square of his artisan district, Maurelio and his colleagues hope to find successors …
Maurelio, like many Ayacuchanos, had to flee the violence to settle in the capital. This diaspora has allowed the art of his region to become famous and recognized in the capital. But some people fear that its secrets will disappear with time. It is no mystery that, in the workshops he organizes in the square of his artisan district, Maurelio and his colleagues hope to find successors …
Manuel-Antonio Monteagudo
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