Laxmi
Laxmi
Laxmi

Laxmi

Regular price $200.00
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The Emberá Chami believe that women carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Okamas in the Emberá dialect are a way of adorning and highlighting their strength, beauty and feminine wisdom. The Okama symbolizes “the path” they walk and is full of ancestral wisdom, cosmovision and story.  Crafted from generational weaving techniques.

It takes each artisan from 10 - 30 days to complete highly elaborate pieces using a thread-needle and loom. The combination of colors and shapes are symbolic to their knowledge of the mountains, rivers, sky, animals, people and the unity of all.  We work fair trade with Embera Chami tribe of Colombia, and our mission is to preserve their artistry, and encourage them to thrive!

Features:
  • Bead work is all made with very strong synthetic thread and glass beads

    Symbology in their crafts: 
  • WHITE: Clouds, Peace
  • RED: Blood, Race, Soul, Flowers 
  • BLUE: Sea, River, Sky, Space 
  • GREEN: Nature, Leaves, Mountains 
  • YELLOW: Gold, Sun, Happiness
  • ORANGE: Flowers
  • PURPLE: Flowers
  • BROWN: Earth
  • BLACK: Night
  • SPIRAL: Path / Road
  • CURVES: Rivers
  • CIRCLE: Community, Unity, Integrity
  • ZIGZAG: Mountain Roads
  • GEOMETRICAL SHAPES: Pachamama 
  • DIAMOND: Seasons of Nature
  • This is a culture

    "It is indigenous art that my grandmothers taught me and they sent me to do it; I do it with the respect of being in front of an inheritance."

    A tool for empowerment

    Whether it be a necklace (okama) or an earring, each of these pieces speak to the journey of life and serve to to protect and highlight beauty.

    Handcrafts are one of the main resources of survival for these women. Buying one of these pieces directly supports artisans of light and we hope it inspires creativity and connection to this wild, colorful and beautiful planet.