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Artisan Spotlight - Yeison Javier

Yeison Javier and his family makes most of our Colombian hats, bags, jewelry and home decoration. He uses Irica palm fibers to make his art. Iraca is a tropical palm that is extremely durable and found in Colombia, South America. We are very blessed to have such amazing artisans at Spearman Artisanry.
Estelí Cooperative

Our mission for our non profit is simple, we strive to provide opportunities to Latin communities using their unique gifts and skills. In 2017, Building Lives International began a cooperative in Estelí Nicaragua, making wire wrapped rings and crochet jewelry. Many artisans began coming from nearby towns and we soon felt called to create a place of further income opportunity for this community that we are in partnership with. This partnership continues to grow and we now sponsor artisans to come to the United States in pursuit of further opportunities.
Artisan Spotlight - Yoan

Tejiendo Vidas Cooperative

We are very excited about the growth of Tejiendo Vidas Cooperative which is part of Building Lives International in Nicaragua. This year we were able to welcome Osmara who is our director’s sister. She knows how to crochet very well and has been training the team how to crochet jewelry. It is amazing how this small group has grown, and we have been able to help them make their dreams become reality. We have also decided this year to support Karol Rivera, who is one of the original artisans in the group. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree and...
Congratulations, Moisés!

We would like to congratulate our director in Nicaragua, Moisés, who just graduated with his bachelors degree in Political Science and International Relations. We are very proud of him. We are also thankful for our countless customers, who through their purchases in our shops, allow us to support artisans around the world!