Giving Back 2016

Tulia's Artisan Gallery donates a portion of each purchase to projects in education and/or cultural preservation in Colombia that empowers indigenous communities.  

In 2016, your purchases helped fund a donation of Little Sun solar flashlights for Wounaan artisans living in off-grid areas in the state of Choco. The Little Sun organization designs and distributes award-winning solar powered lights and phone chargers.  

A global project and a social business

What started as a humble idea to create a small, portable solar lamp for people without electricity in Ethiopia is now a global project that has changed over a million lives through the awesome power of the sun. We strengthen communities from the inside by creating local jobs and generating local profits through our local partners and network of young, African entrepreneurs. Little Suns are sold at a higher price in areas of the world with electricity so that our products can be sold in off-grid areas at much lower, locally affordable prices.

    

Currently there are no distributors of Little Suns in all of Latin America, either at the higher price or the lower off-grid price.  This donation provides our artisans with light bright enough to continue weaving in the evenings after sundown.  

Artisan Workshop Space

Your purchases in 2016 also helped launch our building project with displaced Wounaan artisans in Bogota who need a communal workshop space with natural light. The women weavers in Bogota are scattered through out the "concrete jungle" working in their homes, sometimes on the floor huddled next to a door or window to catch some rays of natural light.  The interior artificial light is sometimes not bright enough and leads to eye strain.  With a communal workshop space designed for the necessities of fine needlework, these artists can exchange ideas, improve quality control, train each other on advanced techniques, and strengthen their community. This building project was begun by several artisan families in Bogota and is approximately $10,000 away from completion.  With your purchases, we were able to donate $3000 towards this project.