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The founder of Surevolution talks about the concept behind her company, which was launched in 2003.

How did you become interested in crafts? When I was doing research for magazine articles, I was delving deep into the cultures I was writing about and quickly found myself drawn to their crafts. When you think about it, embedded in textiles, metals, ceramics, jewelry you find the DNA of us as world citizens. We deserve to know about the techniques, the materials, the craftsmanship, because they are the carriers of our identity. And getting involved in people’s lives by trying to understand how they are preserving their culture also shows you how little you actually know. I was born and raised in Colombia, but I realized that I didn’t know my country when I ended up living with the indigenous Sikuani community for a month working on the collection for Donna Karan. They speak a language entirely their own, for example, which is closer to German than it is to Spanish.

What is the concept behind Surevolution? The vision is to create a universal brand that brings the world and work of artisans to the luxury market while also contributing to the preservation of heritage and developing a sustainable business model for the artisanal world. Imagine: you go to the markets in Ecuador and Bolivia and you see these exquisitely made products sold on the ground by very poor people whose choices are limited to either making cheap ceremonial pieces or souvenirs for tourists. But where is the excellence of the craft? How will it continue? It always struck me as strange that someone would pay $3,000 for a Louis Vuitton bag, which is very nice but produced by a machine, and not $300 for a handmade mochila bag. These are luxury products and deserve to be treated as such.

How do you approach the idea of sustainability and giving back? What is crucial is having a long-term vision. Sure, part of it is working with the artisans, but the final and hardest part is reaching the markets in a sustainable manner and not as a onetime deal at a trade show. Giving back means you’re in it for the long haul. It’s so much more complicated than returning a percentage of your profits. It makes me crazy when that’s the only way people understand the concept. I have spent so much time explaining that yes, Surevolution is a business and yes, it is for profit and in our case profit means for everyone. Because social entrepreneurship is not about buying peace of mind. It’s about whether or not you’re really making a difference and what making a difference means in actual life, not just in monetary, terms.

Can you talk a little about the work you do with the Tecnovo Foundation? A woman named Claudia Gaitin founded this amazing foundation in Bogotá that employs ex-guerrillas and ex-paramilitary militias, as well as people with Down’s syndrome, all of whom learn the art of crafts and help with so-called Egg Peace Products (www.eggpp.com), Surevolution’s partner project. I’ve known Claudia for many years and been involved with Tecnovo since day one. We’ve now hired some of the master craftspeople Surevolution was working with, who are teaching their skills to the people at the foundation. Imagine someone who was born into the world of guerilla warfare, who was carrying a gun his entire life and is now using his hands in an entirely different way and earning money for it. The foundation is about so much more than, ‘I pay you for your product and that’s it.’ It really is a space for healing and for breaking cycles…the cycle of under-development, of not naming things properly, of conflict, of war.

What are the main challenges you’ve faced educating people about the Surevolution line? I think a lot of people are used to buying assorted products as opposed to buying into concepts. We are a luxury brand but we also have a genuine concept and thought process behind it. What we sell is not a random assortment of products; each of them has a world view, a vision, a history worked into the design. In the beginning we got a lot of, ‘Oh, it’s so nice you’re helping these women,’ which can be patronizing and is not really the point. Of course it’s part of it, but first the product has to be beautiful. Then the price has to be right for what it is—and imagine if making a werregue vase takes an Afro-Colombian woman thirty days, how much is her time worth? And then you have all the social projects that are behind it. That order matters.

Finding new artisans must be very rewarding for you. Can you talk about a recent discovery? In Peru we found some incredible ceramists. It’s very interesting, because the country has a high concentration of Japanese immigrants. We found one artisan named Marisa Matsuda who uses a Japanese technique called nerikomi; she first dyes the clay with Andean pigments and then creates these gorgeous, free-flowing bowls that are truly pieces of art.

Are craftspeople surprised when you encourage them to think of their pieces as art? A lot of them are doing their serious, most beautiful work on the side, almost as a hobby, because in most places there’s the lack of a strong market for it. But I hope that Surevolution is playing a role in changing that. Just this morning, I had a meeting with a jewelry collective from Bogotá who told me that they prepared for a year to show me their spectacular pieces. So it’s about raising awareness and also raising the standards.

Are there any other countries that interest you on an artisan level? I would love to work in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq. All these countries are going to need a lot of healing. It’s safe to say that I’m not going on sabbatical anytime soon.

Can you share a memory that exemplifies why you’re passionate about this work? When I returned to the Sikuani tribe to talk to them about the first collection that was going to launch Surevolution at Donna Karan, they asked me who she was and what it means to be a designer. I tried to explain it as best I could, and the next day they came to me and said, ‘Marcella, we want to show you something.’ And they brought me these beautiful dresses that they had made and said, ‘We are designers, too, and we wanted you to know that.’ I find moments that shift our perceptions fascinating. You think, ‘Oh they’re so naïve,’ and then you realize it is us who are the naïve ones. It’s about breaking the paradigm.”