"I WAS VERY LUCKY TO MEET ANA SIERRA. I loved spending time with the goldsmiths and the women gold panners and creating a collection that is both environmental clean but also celebrating the heritage of the Afro Colombian traditional goldsmiths."
Pippa Small Forbes magazin
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JOIN US FOR THIS IMMERSIVE DESIGN EXPERIENCE
COLOMBIA
TUMACO
Create your next collection side by side with the Afro ancestral goldsmiths from this tropical town
ENJOY THE UNIQUE EXPERIENCE of COCREATING your next jewelry collection in aluvial artisanal eco-gold and Colombian artisanal emeralds. Meet the artisanal ancestral women gold panners and colaborate with master afro goldsmiths who carry century old traditions in chain making, filigree and stamping.
All HOSTED BY ANA SIERRA, our founder, the Colombian pioneer for responsible practices in jewelry. Working directly in Tumaco, you contribute restoring the fascinating social and cultural fabric of the goldsmithong communities and keeping their legacy alive.
GET INSPIRED!
START YOUR JOURNEY WITH AN INSPIRING TWO SESSIONS VIRTUAL WORKSHOP, eight weeks before coming.
Discover biogeographical Chocó´s rich biodiversity and its unique cultural heritage of artisanal gold panning. Enjoy an introduction about the powerful symbology of this centuries old jewelry and learn about its ancient techniques of filigree, stamping and chain making.
DISCOVER WHAT MAKES COLOMBIAN EMERALDS so unique and exclusive, and pre-order for your collection, your customed-cut artisanal Colombian emeralds from the towns of Muzo and Chivor.
DAY 1 THE VALUES OF GOLD
EXPLORE THE COSMOVISION OF COLOMBIAN PRE HISPANIC GOLDSMITHING AT THE GOLD MUSEUM. Once in Bogotá explore the arts and crafts of Pre hispanic gold metalurgy. Our first day starts with a guided visit to the world renowed Gold Museum: the largest Pre hispanic gold masterpieces collection of our planet. ​
Photo: Ana Sierra
Photo: Ana Sierra
DAY 2
MEET THE WOMEN GOLD PANNERS
On the second day we´ll fly to Tumaco to meet the artisanal miners and start working with the traditional jewelers. Located in the Pacific Cost, in soutwestern Colombia, the city has beautiful black sand beaches, mangroove forests, and delicious cuisine.
OUR FIRST STOP WILL BE TO MEET THE ARTISANAL ANCESTRAL WOMEN MINERS. They will teach us the technique of gold panning and exchange their experiences about this century old craft.
THE EVENING BRINGS A WELCOME COCTAIL at the hotel, after am a kick off meeting.
VIDEO COVERAGE
A local team of young videoproducers will cover your visit and photographs your work with the jewelers as you develop your jewelry collection. This is unique footage to share with your clients and followers the magic of working right at the origin, right at biogeographical Chocó.
DAYS 3- 8
MORNINGS CELEBRATING CENTURY OLD GOLDSMITHING TRADITIONS
DEVELOP YOUR OWN COLLECTION during the week.
Starting on Monday, we will have a meeting with the goldsmiths to coordinate the development of your capsule collection.
Every morning we will visit the goldsmiths workshop to colaborate and follow up.
AFTERNOONS ENJOYING THE VIVID LIFE OF THIS TROPICAL TOWN
A TASTE OF THE LOCAL GASTRONOMY is the start of every afternoon.
After lunch, every day will bring a new experience: a filigree hands on workshop guided by the new generations of women jewelers; mangroove planting with the women "piangueras" to pay back to nature the service it is offering us; a visit to the Arts and Craft School and a sea bath, will allow you to taste the vivid life of this tropical town and get to know the charm from its kind people.
The evening closes with dinner at the hotel.
Photo: Ana Sierra
Photo: Ana Sierra
Photo: Ana Sierra
JOIN THE MANGROVE
REGENERATING PROGRAM
Be part of the Mangrove Regenerating Program and support this most exceptional ecosystem, one of the ten hotspots of our planet.
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Biogeographical Chocó is 2% of the earth's surface, and home to 10% of the biodiversity of our planet. This exhuberant territory was isolated for centuries between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains.
But the opening of roads in the 1990s to bring services to the isolated communities, also brought illicit mechanized gold extraction. Nowadays 75% of this biodiversity and the peaceful life and cultural heritage of the locals are threatened.
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Mangroves are vital to the ecosystem. Not only because they are the trees that capture more Co2, but also because they create a barrier against higher tides caused by climate change.
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CONTRIBUTING TO A BETTER FUTURE
BRING BACK HOME YOUR OWN JEWELRY COLLECTION, hand crafted with single origin aluvial eco-gold, delicately hand panned by ancestral artisanal women gold panners.
Your visit will contribute to dignify the work of these Afro gold panners and jewelers, bring decent work to their rivers and benches and contribute to keeping alive this vanishing cultural heritage.
LEARNING FROM THE NEW GENERATIONS
PARTICIPATE ON A HANDS ON FILIGREE WORKSHOP with the team of Morro Joyeros. This group of young jewelers and entrepreneurs was born thanks to a project promoted by the NGO Save the Children. They will teach us the basics of filigree handcraft.
For this hand on workshop, we will work with upcycled silver from x ray plates and lithographies: a circular economy project from Metales Procesados, the second generation family small business in Bogota.
Photo: Ana Sierra
Photo: Ana Sierra
OCEAN DISCOVERY
A BOAT RIDE WILL TAKE US TO THE ISLAND OF BOCA GRANDE.
After a one hour ride around the mangroves and the timber stilt houses, we will enjoy salsa music and a taste of the local food in the pristine and beautiful island of Bocagrande.
VISIT TO THE ARTS AND CRAFTS SCHOOL
AN UNFORGETTABLE FAREWELL EVENING AT THE ARTS AND CRAFTS SCHOOL starts with a guided tour to show us how this institution safegards the ancient crafts: they teach young locals how to buid on the sea with stitl house and local gastronomy.
LUNCH WILL BRING THE DELIGHT OF LOCAL GASTRONOMY preprared by the school apprentices.
DAY 8
BACK HOME with a new network of local friends, and your storied jewelry collection. And, as some of the jewelry designers wwe have hosted mentioned: the heart full of gratitude and joy for an indeleble regenerating experience.
JOIN US!
INSPIRE YOURSELF with the centuries-old cosmovision of biogeographical Choco goldmithing and make yours the sophistication and mastercraft of this ancestral heritage WHILE SHINING WITH THE POSITIVE VALUES AND SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL IMPACT YOU HELP US BRING UPSTREAM.
Together we can keep making jewelry a thriving force for these Afro goldsmithing communities and help keeping their cultural heritage alive.
If you want further information just whats app or write to us. We will contact you back ASAP.
We would love to be your hosts!
