Meet the Makers
“We want our business to be more like a family, learning from one another, honoring one another and building each other up.” — founder, tatiana
It’s Earth Month and there’s so much we want to share with our eco-family. Not only are we a textile company that is fiercely passionate about environmental justice and sustainability, but we’re also devoted to empowering women and creating opportunities for healing and peace in Colombia. From our workshop to your home, we honor our culture and planet by creating minimal waste designs through sustainable crafting processes that reflect our makers and our diversity.
Since the inception of Zuahaza, we have been proud to support our artisan partners and are committed to empowering them — socially, economically, and culturally. We understand and cherish the essential role they play in our communities and we wouldn’t be the conscious home brand we are today without them. From young single mothers to crafters 50 years old, these women are the heart and soul of our operation. We wanted to highlight their magic, so we asked our artisans the following questions:
Q1: What does "Empowerment" mean to you?
Q2: What do you enjoy the most about working with other women for women?
So get comfortable, there’s so much to learn from this diverse group of women that make up our sisterhood.
Meet Mercedes
Q1: Para mí el empoderamiento es muy importante ya que nos permite el crecimiento y la participación en todos los aspectos de nuestra vida personal y social
Translation: For me, empowerment is very important as it allows us to grow and participate in all aspects of our personal and social life.
Q2: Para mí, trabajar para las mujeres ha sido muy interesante ya que hemos compartido saberes. Me gusta que tomamos nuestras propias decisiones y lo más importante es que hemos aprendido que cuando trabajamos unidas, llegamos mas lejos. Unidas somos más
Translation: For me, working for women has been very interesting since we have shared knowledge and learn from one another. I like that we make our own decisions and the most important thing is that we have learned that when we work together we go further.
Get to know Martha
Q1: Significa crecimiento, en todos los aspectos, a aumentar nuestras posibilidades y oportunidades, aprender a liderar nuestros proyectos y a avanzar hacia el logro de nuestros sueños.
Translation: It means growth, in every aspect. To grow in the possibilities and opportunities. To learn to lead our own projects and accomplish our dreams.
Q2: En este momento, el trabajar con otras mujeres para mí significa sabiduría en el trabajo en equipo. Por ser la mas joven de todas mis compañeras, siento que cada día aprendo algo nuevo de la vida o de nuestro trabajo juntas. A veces es complejo estar todas de acuerdo pues cada una tiene una forma distinta de ver las cosas, pero es excelente ver como logramos tener facilidad de dialogar y solucionar las cosas.
Translation: At this moment, for me working with other women means wisdom in teamwork. Because I am the youngest of all my teammates, I feel that every day I learn and grow more about life, about work ethic. Sometimes it is challenging for all of us to be on the same page because everyone has different opinions and ways of seeing life. However, it is incredible to see how we can have harmony in dialogue and always reach a common agreement.
here’s Otilia
Q1: Algo maravilloso ya que en nuestra sociedad unos años atrás no se tenía en cuenta a la mujer para el trabajo.
Translation: It's something wonderful because years back in our society, women were not included in work and entrepreneurship.
Q2: Trabajar con mujeres para mujeres es un reto ya que a veces se presentan muchas dificultades, pero lo maravilloso es que los problemas que surgen se solucionan muy rápido y seguimos trabajando juntas por la unidad.
Translation: To work with women for women is a challenge many times because many difficulties come our way. However, any problems that we encounter we can fix together quickly and we continue to work together for our unity.
And let’s not forget Esther Monroy
Q1: Para mí, el empoderamiento de la mujer es muy importante debido a los cambios de los roles que las mujeres han desempeñado en los últimos años. Antes, las mujeres solo participaban como madres y en el trabajo doméstico, y ahora han asumido nuevos roles en la sociedad, donde han podido liderar en la política y en distintos en proyectos liderados por mujeres. Las mujeres entendieron que su papel no era solo el de ama de casa. Han podido obtener más formación y educación. Para la mujer que no ha podido obtener educación formal, han habido buenas iniciativas de organizaciones para ayudarla en su trabajo y tener acceso a herramientas para desarrollar su potencial y retribuir a la sociedad. Para mí este es un aspecto muy importante. Siento que hemos podido dar rienda suelta a ese derecho humano que todas tenemos de participar activamente en otras actividades para el desarrollo de la sociedad.
Translation: For me, women's empowerment is very important because of the changes in women's roles over the last years. Women were only involved as mothers and housework before, and now they have been taking on new roles in society where she has been able to lead in politics, in women-led projects, and other roles in society. Women understood that their role was not only as a housewife. She has been able to get more training and education. For the woman that has not been able to get a formal education, there have been good initiatives from organizations to help her work and get access to tools to develop her potential and give back to society. For me, this is a very important aspect. I feel like we have been able to unleash that human right we all have to be active in other activities for human flourishing.
Q2: El tema de trabajar para mujeres por otras mujeres sí que es muy importante. Uno aprende mucho de cada una. Las experiencias que cada una vive son siempre comparables con lo que uno está enfrentando en ese momento. Para mi trabajar con mujeres al lado ha sido parte de mi vida desde muy joven. Comencé a trabajar con otras mujeres en temas relacionados con la salud. Después cuando llegue a Corpolienzo (la corporación de artesanas de la que hago parte), tuve esta experiencia de vivir con mujeres muy inteligentes y valiosas. Ha sido la alegría de mi vida trabajar con mujeres para mujeres y jamas dejare de estar involucrada en ese trabajo.
Translation: When we work with women for other women one learns a lot from each other. Our shared experiences are always comparable with what one is living with and one is facing at specific moments. I have been working with other women all my life, since a young age. I started to work with women in health-related work in our rural community. Once I arrived at Corpolienzo (our artisan cooperative) I was able to live this experience with multiple intelligent and valuable women. It has been my joys life and will never be able to live without it.
“We have a responsibility to do things differently.” — founder, Tatiana Ordonez
Working with an artisan cooperative of 45 women in Charalá, Colombia has made us more devoted to creating sustainable employment opportunities for artisan communities and committed to growing in our understanding of zero-waste production. As we advocate for better use of natural resources in the textile industry, we also revitalize traditional crafts through soulful collaboration to create unique products that reflect our diversity, history, and dreams. This is what sisterhood means to us.