8 years ago Tanya Zavaleta, her sister and her mother were talking about the conditions in their home state, Chiapas. Although today the state has become very popular thanks to American visitors, back then it was a more forgotten entity. They realized that “the same wealth led them to poverty in parts of Chiapas”, that’s how they undertook Chiapas hearta social entrepreneurship with textiles focused on artisans.
“When you travel to the most touristic municipality that is San Cristóbal de las Casas, different ethnic groups are concentrated competing to sell. Sometimes you can see Lacandones, Zinacantecos, Chamulas, etc. trying to sell his art. And when you buy from one, you can’t buy from the other who approaches you or from children or older people who want to sell”, commented the entrepreneur in an interview with Entrepreneur.com.
That feeling of not being able to help permanently made them think about executing an initiative that would constantly support artisans in the most remote areas of the state. This is how Corazón Chiapaneco was born. It is a textile project with a social dimension, where artisans from different indigenous communities collaborate and design through the ancestral Mayan backstrap loom.
Chiapas is known for its great cultural diversity, its indigenous heritage and its natural beauties, such as the Lacandona jungle and the Mayan ruins of Palenque. However, there is a wealth that is hardly being properly celebrated: its artisans. The lack of an adequate platform to support artists from the region led Tanya Zavaleta and her family to form Corazón Chiapaneco, an artisan brand that brings the talent of indigenous artisans from the Chiapas Highlands to all of Mexico and the world.
“We are born from a state that has too much culture and wealth, indigenous peoples, etc. But this same beauty that Chiapas has has made it one of the poorest entities in the Mexican Republic,” Zavaleta asserted.
A project by women for women
Tanya Zavaleta asserts that, “normally, people who visit Chiapas go to the most touristic municipalities like San Cristóbal de las Casas. But in reality, there are places much further away where there is an inexhaustible source of cultural wealth, in this case Maya”.
In these Mayan areas, generation after generation, they have taught embroidery, especially the waist loom, which is a technique initiated by Mayan women.
“Our intention has always been to collaborate with so that artisans have more than direct payment and also always have constant work. Because the reality is that people do not reach these municipalities that are so far away,” says Zavaleta.
The work of Corazón Chiapaneco is to bring this ancestral heritage closer to people. The artisans embroider according to their techniques, roots, and culture, and the venture uses other types of materials in combination to create more contemporary garments.
The focus of Corazón Chiapaneco is the artisan from Chiapas
“This is a project that we started between sisters and mom: pure women. And just as history tells us: the waist loom, this Mayan technique, begins with women. Currently there are few men use these embroidery techniques. That’s how we started this project”, says Tanya.
It does not mean that there are no male artisans, but the main artisan who collaborates with the brand is a woman.
Sell online from the heart of the Lacandona Jungle
The brand has no foreign investment and is 100% from Chiapas. Tanya and his family started it on their own, even before there were as many “craft brands” as there are now.
“We had the idea that, since we couldn’t have boutiques throughout the Mexican Republic, we could sell online. Now it is more common after the pandemic, but back then people preferred to go to the stores, ”he recalls.
So they designed the distribution project and based it on women distributors in different states of the Republic. Thus, when a woman obtains the license for the Corazón Chiapaneco brand, she has her own business and she becomes an entrepreneur because she must develop her own business.
“It is not that they are our multi-level or catalog distributors. They just get a license that they have to develop on their own time and administration.”
And about the importance of responsible consumption of pieces made by master craftsmen, Tanya emphasizes: “There is no better way than to always buy directly with the artisan or with projects 100% dedicated to them and get closer to them and talk live with the creators of the parts. In our case, in the networks of Corazón Chiapaneco you will never see content that has to do with us. For the brand, the protagonist is always the artisan”:
Support through Expo Corazón Chiapaneco Mujeres
If you are interested in learning more about the project and supporting the artisans, the fifth edition of Expo Corazón Chiapaneco Mujeres will be held from June 30 to July 2, 2023.
“This Expo, which is our fifth edition, will be at the Casa del Risco Museum in San Ángel in Mexico City. In this meeting, its mission is to unite women with multiple identities and that we value their experiences, strengths, their talent, ”said Tanya.
The exhibition will be focused on uniting women who are on that entrepreneurial path or who are just beginning so that they can learn about the projects of the artisans.
It will be divided into three spaces:
- The first area of the expo is made up of 70 women entrepreneurs with textile projects, jewelry, gastronomy, of all kinds. Very interesting.
- The second area will have women artists who will show their talent in music and speakers with talks on entrepreneurship from a gender perspective.
- The third area will have artisans from Corazón Chiapaneco who come from the south of the country to give a live demonstration of their ancestral embroidery and at the same time an exhibition of photographs by a Chiapas artist.
“Admission is completely free and it is incredible that they support us by learning about the projects of these women artisans. The museum opens at 10 am and closes at 5 pm. We will have tastings, music, dance, live demonstrations and great projects by very valuable artisans”, invites Zavaleta.
March Violante Martha Elena Violante (March Violante) is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emprendedor.com and has a 10+ year career in digital journalism. She has interviewed figures such as Randi Zuckerberg, Daniele Lamarre, Zoe Saldana, among others. She has worked in media such as Entrepreneur in Spanish and English, Alto Nivel, Cine PREMIERE, México Desconocido, among others. “We are entrepreneur.com”