STORY
The Concept
ISHKAR has joined together with the Peace Dividend Initiative to create an innovative collection of products which support peace in Colombia. This jacket is the product of a design collaboration between ISHKAR, and Bogata based peace initiative Todos Ponen, led by fashion designer Maria Luisa Ortiz. Each piece is made from reclaimed uniform material that would otherwise have been sent to landfill. The jacket incorporates a discrete mola, a symbolic embroidered panel.
The Impact
This product is the result of a peace value chain which involves former FARC combatants, local entrepreneurs and civil society members. By building cooperation between these parts of society, each product aims to stitch together parts of Colombia that have been pulled apart by conflict.
Ebera Neka
Embera Katío, is an indigenous community based in Tierralta, Cordoba, a region of Colombia that is often caught in the crossfire between guerrillas and paramilitary groups. Through their cooperative, Ebera Neka, they produce traditional molas and intricate beadwork, aiming to create opportunities for indigenous families and to preserve their artisanal traditions.
Avanza
Avanza is a clothing brand created by TejPaz, a cooperative based in rural Colombia formed of former members of the FARC-EP. Having signed the peace agreement, they are some of thousands of ex-combatants now working to reintegrate into society. Through the production of garments they aim to transmit a message of change and to build a sustainable enterprise that provides economic guarantees for themselves, and their families.
Model photographs by ASPAVL (Asociación Productora Audio-Visual)
