Meet The Makers

Who made my clothes? Introducing the artisans behind the brand. Empowered women change their communities for the better. According to the UN, “When women work, they invest 90% of their income back into their families, compared with 35% for men.”
 

Age: 65

Children: 7

About: Master weaver Felipa has incredible technical skills, honed over decades, and her pieces exude her proud, independent spirit. Eight years ago, she and her daughter Angelica, met Pippa and the rest is history. A self-proclaimed ‘hard worker’, Felipa is a single mum and a formidable force.

Time working for PHK: 5 years (since the brand launched).

“I never thought this could bring so much work to my town,” says Felipa. The work enabled her to finish her studies at elementary school, and right now she’s enrolled in a dressmaking academy to keep innovating and producing new designs.

Master weaver Felipa Hernandez on the backstrap loom

Master weaver Felipa

Felipa at work on the backstrap loom

Felipa folds her No.13 Kaftan

Age: 46

Children: 1 son

About: Monica is a school teacher. She began her teaching career 25 years ago, and for the past 9 years has been the director at her local kindergarten. Weaving is something she does on the side, but takes great pride in.

Time working for PHK: 3 years

“Being part of the team allows us all to generate more consistent income for our families. It has really helped our town.”

Monica holds her No.150

Artisan Sofia holds thread to weave No.250. Sofia is part of artisan Monica Hernandez’s group of weavers

Monica with her artisans

Monica with her No.150

Monica with her group of weavers

           

Age: 48

About: Gelasia started to weave when she was 13 years old. She loves her work, and in particular experimenting with different colours, threads, and fibres.

Time working for PHK: 2 years

“I organised our group of weavers when I made my first design myself, No.123. We started as a little team, and now we are many weavers - all of us happy to bring support to our families.”

Artisan Gelasia Garcia

Artisan Margarita who works with Gelasia

   

Gelasia and her group of weavers

Weaving No.212 on the backstrap loom

Gelasia with her team of weavers

Age: 65

About: For the past 10 years, Augustina has been the President of Yoo Kuo woman weavers, coordinating 20 women. In her free time, she likes to bake the traditional bread of the town.

Time working for PHK: 2 years

“I have been working in the backstrap loom for 45 years. I am very proud of it as I learned it from my ancestors. We joined the team by invitation of one of our friends, since then we have worked happy and are excited about the orders, and always asking for more work.”

Artisan Agustina holds her No.89

One of Agustina's weavers works on the backstrap loom

Agustina with her team of artisans

Agustina and her team of weavers showcase their work

Age: 43

Children: 1 son

About: Angelica and her mother Felipa were the first weavers to join the PHK team. Angelica is a trained accountant and the founding member of a co-op. She is also a certified artisan of the Secretary of Education of the state of Oaxaca, and is qualified to teach the backstrap loom technique.

Time working for PHK: 5 years

“I feel very proud to share what I create on the loom, and that this is reaching many different parts of the world. As a child, the loom was my very first toy. I played with the threads and tools then I learned to make little pieces. When I went to university income from weaving helped me to finish my studies, and now the loom is my career giving me [further] opportunities. I feel very proud to be a woman that supports other women in my town. To have the tools to make the right decisions to be part of the team, to be connected with my roots and combine it with my work.”

Angelica with her work

Angelica's team of weavers

Age: 47

Children: 5

About: Aurelia is director of the group of weavers, Manos Mágicas. Her mother taught her to weave as a child, and they now work together.

Time working for PHK: 3 years

“For many years, we didn’t have constant work. People did not desire our pieces like they do now, so I am grateful. Thanks to this work, I have improved my house. I never thought we could sell all year round from our town.”

Aurelia with her No.220

Aurelia and her group or artisans

Aurelia with her weavers

Epifania wove No.220 and is a weaver in Aurelia’s group of artisans

Age: 56

Children: 7

About: Juana was also very young when she first learned to weave. She says her mother, who taught her, was very patient! But like other women in her community, Juana’s story has not always been easy. She used struggle to sell her pieces, and recalls a time of economic insecurity and hardship, worrying where the next sale would come from.

Time working for PHK: 1.5 years

“The day I started [this] work was a miracle. I was walking in the streets with one of my daughters offering my pieces with no luck because I only sold 1 of the several I have with me - this day changed my life. We started to work with Pippa and the project, I felt really happy. I could work from home and share the work with many more woman that was also in my situation. For the first time, we met someone that did not bargain at our pieces and wanted to give us permanent work I don't have to carry the things and walking endlessly in the streets since then.”

The intricate detail of Juana's No.169

Juana holds her No.164

   

Age: 41

Children: 4 daughters and 1 son.

About: For Ricarda, weaving means economic empowerment and the chance to provide her children with better opportunities than she had. Her son is an accountant and one of her daughters is studying gastronomy. Ricarda has big dreams.

Time working for PHK: 4 years

“The weavers [have been able to] put in ceilings and floors in their houses because Pippa has been supporting their art. I would like to go to Europe with Pippa one day.”

Ricarda and her team of weavers

Artisan Ricarda Garcia showcases her No.188

Artisan Ricarda Garcia on the backstrap loom

Artisan Ricarda Garcia

Age: 45
Children: 1 daughter and 1 son, and 4 grandsons!
About: Traditionally, children learned to weave from their parents and family members, and Juana was only eight when she first learned to use a backstrap loom. Today, she is a specialist in the art of natural dyes.

Time working for PHK: 3 years

“I love to work in what I learned from my ancestors - to share my roots. It is the only work I [know how to] do, and I feel very happy I can live from that.”

Artisan Juana with her No.75

A weaver from Juana's group of artisans

Age: 25

About: A familiar story of skill passed down through generations. Biridiana’s mother taught her how to weave. She was 15 when she learned, and also says it took “much love and patience”. After time away from the village in her early twenties, Biridiana was able to return and earn a living where she grew up.

Time working for PHK: 1.5 years

“I used to work in Mexico City, far from my family, and I was thinking about leaving the country and trying to go to the US to have better opportunities. When the orders from Pippa started, I went back to my town to help my mother. We love what we do. As artisans, we create stories in each of our pieces. This work requires talent, effort, and dedication.”

Sisters Biridiana, Adelaida and their mother Juana

Biridiana and Juana