Caitlin Garcia-Ahern | Thread Caravan | Women Series
“I think the strength of Indian craft lies in its diversity — wood, jewels, silks, cottons, spices — these materials can be worked by human hands to become such treasures, especially when the hands working with the materials have decades of experience in regions with centuries of history dedicated the craft.”
How do you think commercial designing marries crafts creating a balance of modern and traditional? You offer products and journeys from various traditional cultures, is there a particular curatorial aspect you keep in mind for thread caravan?
In their lifetimes, many of the artisans we work with have seen the shift of creating for the purpose of use to creating for the purpose of selling on a global market. For example, just 20 years ago, pottery in Oaxaca, Mexico was created almost completely for the purpose of use. This means that pitchers, plates, etc. had the same form as they have had for hundreds of years, because that is the form that is most functional. In recent decades, these artisan communities have had more connection and access to outside communities, with clients traveling from all over the world to purchase things they’ve made. Now when creating, artisans consider both the utility as well as the aesthetic design.
Thread Caravan does not necessarily seek out the best artisan designers, but rather communities with an openness to patiently share and teach about their creative processes. We believe the beauty lies within the process, and thus put our focus on this rather than the end creations. It is also important that we work with artisans in places where the craft tradition has centuries of history -- this creates a connection not only between people, but also between materials and land.
The business model of offering products as well as tours has gained popularity in the past few years. Why do you think that has happened and why does it work? What are the market shifts in attitude that have led to this?
It’s true! I’ve noticed many brands who started out only selling things begin to also offer tours. I think this evolved for the same reason I mentioned in my first response -- the lack of understanding of handmade processes. If you are purchasing something handmade that is being sold at a higher price than its factory-made counterpart, it’s easier to justify the purchase if you know more about the piece -- not just that it was handmade, but how, and where and by whom. Tours provide a way for companies to answer these questions directly and thus create more awareness about the value of the things they are creating.
Can you share how your tours are different from all others and what is our vision for thread caravan?
When I conceptualized Thread Caravan in 2014, these sorts of workshops didn’t exist - Airbnb experiences didn’t exist and companies weren’t diversifying to offer tours. Although craft workshops are growing ever-more popular, I think Thread Caravan remains different in several ways. Most importantly: all of our guides are local and all workshops are led by local (usually indigenous) craftspeople. Secondly, our sole focus is facilitating experiences, and thus providing our teachers and guests with the utmost attention and care. To date - we’ve hosted almost 300 guests on 37 workshops. We are a woman-owned business and almost all of our employees are POC. We plan to stay small -- keeping our retreats intimate and maintaining quality, rather than growing just to grow. We love the work we do -- celebrating crafts, and cultural diversity and look forward to continue sharing this passion and our experience with artisan instructors as well as new and returning guests!
Photo Credits: www.threadcaravan.com
Caitlin is a cultural entrepreneur from Oaxaca, Mexico who runs Thread Caravan, a boutique travel and workshop initiative that aims to bring more awareness to cultural heritage craft processes and support artisan entrepreneurs via experiences rather than consumerism. We speak with her about her socio-cultural journey and everything design and textiles!
Could you share the start of your journey with Design and Textiles? Where did you study and who were the early influences ( places, people etc). What lead to you coming to India with your journeys?
My creative explorations are all self-taught. I studied Sociology at Loyola University in New Orleans.
As a creative, my preferred medium used to be sewing. I loved the dimension -- sewing garments is like constructing your own 3D puzzle; however, I began to tire of it when I was unable to find materials I wanted to sew with. I began only upcycling, turning discarded garments into new pieces, but that created a great limitation in what I could make. This limitation pushed me to develop an interest in weaving: the actual creation of the fabric itself. I now deeply appreciate both construction of fabric and garments, although I’m personally focusing on weaving more than sewing these days.
The idea for Thread Caravan came to me in 2014, after working with two fairtrade companies and realizing that there was a lack of understanding of handmade processes. I wanted to create experiential workshops in which students could learn about cultural craft processes directly from multigenerational artisan communities, and where those artisan communities could have direct contact with groups of people who value and appreciate the work they do.
Expanding to include workshops in India was inevitable -- the craft traditions there run deep, and there are many communities of artisans willing and eager to showcase their skills.
Could you comment on the current state of Indian and Asian Crafts globally? Where do you think our strengths lie and where are the challenges?
I think the strength of Indian craft lies in its diversity -- wood, jewels, silks, cottons, spices -- these materials can be worked by human hands to become such treasures, especially when the hands working with the materials have decades of experience in regions with centuries of history dedicated the craft.
I think the largest challenge of crafts, both in India and on a global level, is changing the perception of what “craft” and “handmade” mean. Craft is not just glitter and glue guns and handmade is not equated to lesser quality. In fact, handmade crafts take more time and if created by a master artisan, have the possibility to be heirloom pieces, far outliving a mass produced factory counterpart.
Where does craft lie in the conversation of fast fashion? Is it a solution to go back to slow ways of creating fashion?
In shifting away from fast fashion, I think the first solution is to consume less. The second solution is to be mindful of the things we are consuming -- opting for handmade, slow fashion created with sustainable resources.
While it’s no recent concept, in the past couple years, this movement has gained significant momentum and I believe we’re in the midst of a large shift.
'A piece of textile is both a work of art and design'. Comment
A piece of textile is both a work of art, and design, and so much more. It is many, many stories all woven together -- the plants that grew to the people who cared for and harvested them, to the people who processed them into woven fiber, colored them with pigments, wove them into a textile. There can be intention and beauty in every part of this process, thus making each piece of textile both a work of art, and design.
Could you comment on the rise in interest in Indian textiles in the west? Are there certain factors that have lead to this? How do you think we celebrate diversity in culture through textiles?
As technology advances and systems become more structured and linear, Westerners are seeking a return to more natural ways - creating things by hand. It’s easy for Westerners to turn to India to find these objects, as it’s a place where the handmade craft techniques never disappeared.
And financially speaking, it’s still relatively affordable for Western companies to produce handmade fabrics and other items in India. Businesses are able to meet market demand while not making a large compromise in budget.
As technology advances, the world is also becoming more homogenous -- information and objects are exchanged across the world with greater ease. However, despite this homogeneity, there remains a diversity when we look under the surface and honor cultural differences - customs, textiles, foods, pottery. While there are similarities, there are also differences that pay homage to the people who have preserved them
