STORY OF OLT
We started OLT back in 2019, me, Tatiana Toro, my cousin Laura Aguirre and Otilia and elder Ember-Chami woman along with her family.
OLT was a project aimed to help the indigenous women in Colombia whom make and sell their accessories in the streets to tourists or locals. For most families, this is their only form of income.
All of our Okamas, earrings, necklaces, chokers, bracelets and bags are more than just an accessory, the colors and ancestral shapes carry significances, they mimic the beauty in nature and it's colors, always honoring the ancestral practice of weaving, each item saturated of the colorful and beautiful indigenous culture of Colombia.
Nowadays, we work with three indigenous families whom are pat of slightly different indigenous cultural groups which are the Embera-Chami, Embera-Katio, Embera-Wounaan and the Wayuu.
The Embera- Chami and Katio families are located in the department of Risaralda
( Where my cousin and I are from💖).
One other Embera family is located in the large city of Medellin, they are mainly young women whom relocated there to find work or attend school.
The Wayuu family we work with live in the department of La Guajira, they make our beautiful Wayuu Mochilas and bags.
We have created a beautiful partnership with these indigenous families. Learning from them, navigating meanings of shapes, colors and forms we are able to design together, respecting their view on design while allowing space for us to input our contemporary view.
