Pixan

House of Design Pixan is the Spirit of Fashion

Pixan, AMA's fair trade textiles workshop is up and running and about to really ramp up production. Contracting with designers and retailers from all over the world, Pixan operates on a direct trade model which cuts out the middle man and eases a flow of trade directly from the artisan to her market. Pixan is made up women from AMA women's circles from Indigenous communities in the highlands of Guatemala.

How Pixan Started

The specific project of House of Design: Pixan began only three years ago, women's independent business is the spark that birthed AMA over twenty years ago when founder Guadalupe Ramirez bought the women of her first women's circle high quality thread to weave textiles for the market in Chichicastenango and for church sales in the United States. With this business, they were able to make money to support their families after their husbands and fathers were murdered during Guatemala's 30 year internal conflict. These women who had relied solely on men for income were able to support themselves and their families, and the support of the circle helped them through the tragedy. Ramirez went on to open AlterNatives Boutique in Richmond, Virginia in 1992, one of the first fair trade retail stores in the United States where the creations of Pixan are sold today.

 


What we Do

The idea behind Pixan is to enable design entrepreneurs to have production capacity in a fair trade shop. The women of Pixan weave, embroider, and assemble for international designers, who provide new innovative designs that are sell in international markets, which provide the women with year round work. While Pixan's artisans weave, embroider, and sew, its administrators would transcend the language and cultural barriers of international markets to bring even more designers, retailers, and entrepreneurs right to the workshop. Women's circle members met with organizers at AMA and worked out the logistics of this undertaking.

 

Our Inspiration

While Pixan seeks to create modern and innovative designs, these products never loose sight of their Mayan origins. Each product is inspired by and symbolic of Mayan cosmology. For example, Pixan put out a line of bags made of woven thread and up-cycled leather, the Diamond Marauchi collection. On each bag, a pattern of smaller diamonds within larger diamonds represent Mayan cosmovision. The larger diamonds represent the four corners of the world and the smaller diamonds contained within represent the sun. Through their craft, the women of Pixan can educate happy customers about their culture while creating products that are attractive to the markets of the United States and other countries.

  • Pixan's talented, highly dedicated team of artisans can execute a wide variety of designs and patterns including clothing, accessories, and home decor collections. We specialize in a range of production services. Please contact us for more details.

 

Sewing

  • Our artisans had received training to work with high quality and are acquiring experience attending the order of our international clients. We can produce a variety of accessories, clothing and home decor.

    Embroidery and Weaving

    Pixan is conformed by artisans who are experts in different techniques of weaving in a back-strap loom and pedal loom, creating incredible pieces of fabric to produce our products and as requested by our international clients.

 

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