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Guatemala
From Rubbish to Radiance: The Birth of High-End Handcrafted Art in Guatemala
 TIME
magazine caught up with the tranSglass™ collection of
glassware in its Winter 2005 Style supplement. MoMA, the Museum
of Modern Art in New York City, has the tranSglass™
in their prestigious permanent collection and retails the
collectible art in its gift stores. tranSglass™ exemplifies
the beauty of an alliance that was made to be and built to
last.
USAID is proud to highlight the alliance in the line-up
of successful partnerships that the the Agency's Supply Chain
Alliance and Export Promotion Program developed in Guatemala.
USAID's implementing partner in this program is AGEXPRONT,
the Guatemalan Trade Association for Non-Traditional Exports.
The story of tranSglass™ shows that when the right people-designers,
marketers, product development experts, exporters and artisans-come
together a new line of handcrafted high-end products can emerge
and land on the shelves in the United States, Europe and Asia
in slightly more than a year's time.
 The
protagonist of tranSglass™ is the Guatemalan artisan group
La Casa Cotzal. Led by founder Ian González, the group collected
donated recycled bottles and learned to transform them into
collectible art pieces for client Artecnica. La Casa Cotzal
is literally turning "garbage" into a work of superior craftsmanship
and design.
The La Casa Cotzal artisans are 22 Guatemalan women and
men who, prior to their work producing tranSglass™, were either
unemployed or performing as laborers. Now they have learned
a craft and take great pride in their ability to work as a
team to cut, shape and polish the recycled bottles into art
pieces.
The USAID Supply Chain Alliance and Export Promotion Program
supported this concept-to-market process with several studies
on work space organization and warehousing, inventory management
and effective production techniques to produce perfect final
products. An ongoing environmental impact study will determine
the best use of the waste-the unused glass-and the impact
of the dust generated during production, including ways to
mitigate its harmful effects.
The Program provided training to the artisans in industrial
safety, time-use and movement of product through the work
space.
The studies and training allow La Casa Cotzal to meet its
clients' specifications for the product and to maximize production
of this high-end collection now and in the future.
The product is an assorted collection of glassware designs
in green, clear or brown polished or satin glass that begin
as recycled wine, champagne and beer bottles. The collection
was designed by European designers Tord Boontje and Emma Woffenden.
It was sponsored this year by Artecnica and is one of its
first Design with Conscience campaign projects to go from
concept to market. The campaign uses design to foster humanitarian
and environmental causes.
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Photo credits:
Angela Moore.Artecnica |
Due to their handcrafted nature, each tranSglass™ piece
is unique, varying slightly in size, color and appearance.
They do not, however, vary in their quality as each is perfect
with not a visible scratch. Each piece is packaged in a special
box, also produced by Guatemalan hands.
Photo Credits: La Casa Cotzal artistan pictures were taken by Wende S.
DuFlon/USAID.
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