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• Novica: "What the world creates by hand." Offers a 12% donation when items are purchased through iGive.

We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And, we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow. At the deepest essence of our philosophy, we want to create a bridge between you and the many talented artisans across the globe. We want you to know about who you're buying from. We want you to feel that attachment to the product and to the hands that created it. In the spirit of the Internet, let us bring you together. NOVICA. The World is Your Market.

Fair Trade and Compensation of Artisans
The purpose of NOVICA is to create a revolutionary system through which the artists and artisans of the world can display their fine works to a global audience of prospective customers. NOVICA does not charge artists any fees for listing their items on the website. Furthermore, artists remain fully independent--they are free to raise their prices, lower their prices, or remove their items from our website. By cutting out the long strings of middlemen, NOVICA allows both consumers and artisans to get the most out of each and every transaction.

Handcrafted products made by WWI’s program graduates also can be found at: Amber Chand Collection, Global Girlfriend, and Lucina Jewelry . See Kiva Friends topic - Shop the Bazaar.

For us, the Spanish word TRAMA, “the weft” or “binding thread”, is interchangeable with the word comida, “food¨. Our weavings clothe us, warm our families through highland winters, and carry our babies on our backs. They unite our people from generation to generation and sustain us as much as any food.

The patterns of our textiles differ throughout our communities, varying from village to village, department to department, and from the highlands to the lowlands. Each of our designs and patterns tells a different story, representing the unity of our past histories and present cultures. The ancient textile craft of backstrap loom weaving binds together our families, communities, lands, and the traditions passed down from our ancestors.

We are active members of TRAMA Textiles, the Association of Women for Artisan Development in Backstrap Loom Weaving. We work directly with 17 weaving cooperatives, representing 400 women from five regions in the western highlands of Guatemala: Sololá, Huehuetenango, Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango and Quiché.

Mission
Our mission is to create work for fair wages for the women of Guatemala; to honourably support our families and communities; and to preserve and develop our cultural traditions through the maintenance of our textile arts and their histories.

Catalog
The Product Catalogue contains images and prices for products available for purchase from TRAMA Textiles. Please contact us at trama.textiles@yahoo.com with the product code and quantity you would like to order. You may also contact us to inquire about custom orders.