Jonathan Williams, the owner of Tesoros, spends about a third of the year on the road, traveling throughout Asia, South America, and Latin America to find special and unusual handcrafts and folk art. Williams imports traditional craft items as well as products developed specially for Tesoros enabling him to sell objects that support the artisan’s delicate existence, while continuing to offer a constantly fresh array of merchandise to his customers.
Williams’ graduate thesis was about what happens to folkways as the outside world intrudes and commercialization sets in, and he does what he can to promote crafts in their most traditional forms. This fondness for character and tradition has led to a concern for the fate of native crafts in the world’s poorest regions. The domestic use of traditional crafts is disappearing due, in part, to the advent of television, radio, and the internet throughout the globe and artisans have had to find other outlets for their wares. Williams is active in international organizations that work to maintain, and in some cases revive, local crafts economies. He works directly with artisans in remote areas, sometimes with whole families, often importing their entire production to Tesoros.
The charm and value of folk art derives, in no small part, from its hand-crafted production. Each piece is unique and subject to the variation that only a human hand – rather than a machine – can impart. We delight in the variations that can only be achieved in handmade products – and we hope you will too!
See all Product Highlights . . . |
|
