A group of five artisans exhibit their products at the largest fair of consumer goods in the world.
With the help of ProChile, through its program "Projecting Chilean family farming in international markets," a group of five national artisans was able to travel to Frankfurt, Germany to present their products at the Frankfurt Ambiente Fair 2016.
With more than 4,800 exhibitors from 95 different nationalities and more than 135,000 buyers from 150 countries, the Frankfurt's Ambiente Fair is "where the world meets." The fair is a business platform with a special emphasis on the growing segment of sustainable consumer goods, and this year it will be divided into three major areas: dining, gifts and living.
According Ignacio Fernández, Deputy National Director of ProChile, "to participate in a fair as important as this is an opportunity to present our artisans and to showcase their products so as to take advantage of contacts and to close deals. Our intention is to have more and more companies exporting Chilean goods."
The artisans who will represent Chile are Bernardo Luck of "Beas y Tapia"; Patricio Farias of "Comercial Pueblos del Sur"; Ana María Lagos of "Hierbas del Alma"; Pamela Diaz "Share" and Emerson Basoalto of "Turismo y Artesanías del Maule."
Ana María Lagos is an industrial designer and director of "Hierbas del Alma," a social enterprise that promotes and shares the respect for humans and the environment, and who is driven by education and by the fact that she lived in Molco Alto, rural Villarrica for four years.
"Our idea is to add value to materials such as wool. We only work with Mapuche artisans, because they have an ancestral knowledge of wool, and have lived all their lives with the sheep," says Lagos.
"The story of our products shows who is behind each product and the issue of sustainability is fundamental to us and is becoming increasingly important, especially when selling to companies," she concludes.
Frankfurt Ambiente Fair will take place from February 12-16 on the grounds Messe Frankfurt GmbH, a space with a total area of 476,000m2, of which 324,000m2 are occupied by pavilions and the other 83,000m2 are open space.