Textile Sisterhood Giveaway is LIVE!

I love the color pink because it is so joyful and simply put, it brightens up my day.  I loving having bright pink accents around my house and as part of my outfits… because just seeing this color makes me happy.  In this chilly weather especially, it’s a warmth that I appreciate greatly.

What do YOU like about pink?

We’ve teamed up with 8 other ethical women makers and founders to bring you a pink bundle of joy giveaway, and we want to know what YOU think about this color. Tell us on IG and enter  to win 9 separate prizes – that’s a lot of beauty 🌸🌸🌸

Join in on the fun via Instagram @kakawdesigns!

For this giveaway, we’ve partnered with (left to right):

Cardamom Collective 

Hecho

Kakaw Designs (that’s us!)

PresentlyIn

Toj

Kari by Kriti

Global Elective

Liya Mira

Cielo Collective

 

Good luck!!

 

XOXO,

Mari

 

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SCARFSEASON celebrate with 20% off!

It’s getting chilly these days… are you feeling the beautiful autumn breeze, too?

This is one of my favorite seasons, one that I’ve missed in Guatemala since it’s always spring there (really, that’s not a complaint – I love spring, too!).  This year, I’m in Austria working on my master’s in Sustainable Development, and I’m so glad I brought along a few scarves.  I’m a little worried for winter, I’m sure it will be the coldest in my life yet.  I will definitely be carrying around my handwoven + naturally-dyed scarves with me, all the time 🙂

Are you feeling chilly, too? Take 20% off all scarves with code SCARFSEASON until Sunday, October 22nd.  Order two and we’ll include a handmade Luggage Tag as a gift 😉

Some of my favorites this season:

Rebozo del Lago, a wide and cozy shawl dyed with plants.  Handwoven + intricate ikat designs. (Retail $200)

Naturally-dyed footloom scarves in Indigo and Plum. (Retail $75)

<<See more of our ethical scarves>>

 

I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful change of seasons, the trees changing colors, losing leaves, the fresh breeze but still some warm sunshine peeking through, too.

XOXO,

Mari

Join us for the Ethical Shopping Shakeup, June 28-30, 2017!

Join us for a fun 3-day online marketplace event with a dozen other ethically-minded brands around the world.  We’ve each prepared a personal video and there’s a discount code in there too 😉

If you think it’s fun/funny to see Mari get awkward with her video message, this is your chance 😆  Join the event by clicking here.

Hope to see you there!

 

XOXO,

Mari

Happenings in July in San Francisco

Hey, friends in the Bay!  I hope to see you at these events coming up in July – I can’t wait to show you what we’ve been creating with our artisan partners in Guatemala.

 

XOXO,

 

Mari

Summer Picnic Bundle

We’ve got a fun-filled ethical bundle for you, straight from Guatemala!

We’ve teamed up with Toj  to bring you this ethical bundle just in time for summer sunshine.  Get a hand-embroidered Kakaw Designs Picnic Blanket and a pair of Toj sandals of your choice for $140, including shipping to the US!  That’s almost $50 off, which we are able to do by combining orders together and shipping to you directly from Guatemala.

I loved having these sandals with me in Mexico, with their interchangeable laces.  I’ve tried quite a few different ways to wear them, but I know there are so many more – it’s fun to play around with!

Our Picnic Blanket is also great for the beach 🌴

I love the handwoven straps, so many colors to choose from!  I’m a sucker for this lovely green.

Interested?  Just Email me (mari@kakawdesigns.com) and we’ll arrange orders through PayPal.  Offer valid until May 21st, and we’ll be shipping the last week of May, just in time for summer.

Mother’s Day Favorites + Sale

Wendy from Moral Fibres models with our Quetzal Tote

Starting to look for the perfect Mother’s Day gift?  Well, we have some ethical, handmade favorites to share with you 😘 Support our partner women artisans, many of whom are mothers themselves 🙌

Corte Wrap: great light year-long scarf, luxuriously wide normally $90

Quetzal Wrap: naturally-dyed and handwoven.  Support women weavers!  Normally $110

Hummingbird Wrap: choose from 3 naturally-dyed colors, with ikat designs. Normally $75.

Quetzal Tote: our favorite tote fits everything you need!  Normally $90.

Remember, take $20 off with code MAMALOVE until May 14, 2017.  (Valid for orders over $100 – and free shipping too!)

The Perfect Bundle for the Coffee and Textile Lover ☕️❤️

It’s getting warmer and more colorful these days.  We’ve got the perfect bundle to help you start your days with cheer 😊

Put together by Natalie from Sustainably Chic… We love her 😘

$45 includes a bag of De La Gente coffee (straight from Guatemalan farmers!), two coasters, and one tea towel, all hand-embroidered with naturally-dyed thread.
Straight to you from Guatemala 🇬🇹, including shipping to the US

Interested? Just let us know at hello@kakawdesigns.com and we’ll send you a PayPal invoice.

This is a Spring season special, so order your bundle now! Just let us know at hello@kakawdesigns.com

Get ready for an adventure!

Last month, I took off.  To Belize and Mexico, on a great adventure.

Guess who came with me?  My lucky Quetzal Backpack 😆 It did so great on the trip, we’re celebrating with $20 off until this Friday, March 17th.  Use code ADVENTURE at check-out 🙌

Take a look at my epic adventure:

Photos: Leander Khil

Are you ready for an adventure?

SHOP BACKPACK

A favorite for scarf season

*** Discount code at the very bottom 😘***

We love all our products, but we’re so excited that this chilly season the top favorite has been the newest scarf addition, our Corte Wrap.  It’s beautiful and cozy, but more that that, we are including two different groups of artisans in its production – the weavers who prepare the naturally-dyed cotton thread, and the embroiderers who do all the amazing embroidery work, stitch by stitch ❤️

Francisca with the naturally-dyed thread her cooperative prepares.  She liked the finished prototype!

Embroidery master sisters at work!

Stitch by stitch…

 

And the result is a super soft, cozy scarf ❤️

 

Kelly from Cardamom Collective snatched one of our prototypes!

Adrienne shows off her Corte Wrap AND her Quetzal Backpack 😆

Rachel and Laura both got a hold of these beauties with red stripes… lucky them!

Want your own?  Use discount code SCARFLOVE for $20 off your own Corte Wrap just until January 25, 2017.

Order yours now!

 

Kakaw and Cardamom Bundles

We’re happy to announce a special collaboration between two spice-loving and ikat-obsessed businesses ❤️ Together with Cardamom Collective, we’re bringing you these lovely bundles for $90 – that’s $30 less than if ordered separately 😘 Only available throughout January!  To order, just email me at mari@kakawdesigns.com and I’ll send you a PayPal invoice.

Each bundle has one naturally-dyed and handwoven Hummingbird Wrap from Guatemala and a beautiful handloom ikat moon pouch from India.  Two places so far away and so vastly different in some ways, and yet in other ways so similar, which we can see through the ikat tradition here.  Kelly and I are both suckers for ikat, could you guess?

<<Hey, did you hear about the time we were at Renegade Chicago together?>>

“Indigo”

“Rose”

“Chocolate”

The ikat process is pretty complicated to explain, so we’ve got this video to show you:

Essentially, knots are strategically placed in the threads of the warp so that when those threads are dyed, the knotted parts remain white.  This is a truly mind-boggling kind of spacial awareness or mathematical intelligence that I can tell you I personally do not possess.  And it’s a technique used all over the world – that’s what’s so cool about it!

Cheers!  Kelly and me last year in Chicago.

Thanks for your support, and as always, if you have any questions, shoot me an email at mari@kakawdesigns.com.

XOXO,

Mari