Global Groove Life
Felt Casserole Trivet, Harvest
Felt Casserole Trivet, Harvest
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These felt trivets add texture, style and fun pops of color while protecting your dinner table. The Harvest is great for fall and Thanksgiving entertaining. Crafted from fine New Zealand wool and azo-free dyes using age-old techniques. Handmade in Nepal by a Fair Trade women's cooperative.
- Size: Approximately 14 inch x 10 inch
- Care: Spot clean as needed. Do not machine wash or dry.
The Art of Felting:
The first step to creating these beautiful felt pieces begins with gathering some of the world’s finest sheep’s wool from New Zealand. Making felted wool is an ages-old, time-consuming process of bonding fabric with fiber. This is a physical job where the artisan’s scrub, rub, roll and rinse the wool again and again with soapy water.
Once the wool is bound into a sheet and the desired thickness is complete, the felt is laid out to dry. From there, the felt wool is cut and re-worked into many complex shapes and designs. The many sheets of wool might merge several colors to create patterns and layers. This takes a well-trained, talented artisan and is a true labor of love. The end results are colorful, one-of-a-kind textiles that are stunning to behold.
About the Artisans
About the Artisans
Chichicastenango, Guatemala, has become one of the most important heritage centers in Guatemala during the past 10 years, due to its predominant indigenous Maya Quiche population and their traditional textile products. Yet, despite increased tourism and a renewed interest in traditional Mayan crafts, work opportunities remain few for the indigenous population, many of whom are uneducated and otherwise unemployable.
Enter De Colores Art, a local business that levels the playing field for villagers by offering free training to anyone who demonstrates the initiative to learn a trade. The company employs 30 women and 18 men to knit and embroider textile products, with the option of working at home using materials provided by the company. De Colores recognizes the culture of its Mayan employees, and as such allows flexible hours and gives time off for sowing and harvest days.
De Colores also invests in community education projects by funding two local schools in the neighboring towns of Chujupen y Pachoj, and by providing scholarships to qualifying students.
In addition to stimulating the local economy by creating new jobs, De Colores makes a conscious effort to use recycled materials whenever possible. The reason for this is twofold: to preserve Mayan culture, as recycled textiles showcase traditional knitting patterns that aren’t often seen in newer textiles, and to reduce scraps and waste.
Communities collaborate in the production process, as men work on the biggest textiles and women do the embroidery, crochet and macramé seen in smaller pieces. In some cases, in order to be competitive, sewing machines are used to assemble the finished product, although all the components are handmade and hand embroidered from cotton, wool and/or silk.
