WELCOME TO MANOLITAS
Manolitas is a brand that focuses in creating global awareness of the gifted handmade talents our proud team of local artisans possess. We beautifully design handmade cloth dolls and hand embroidered luxury children’s clothing destined to live long after they are created. Our pieces are meant to be part of a lasting family legacy, creating sweet memories down the lane before being passed from one generation to the next. We treasure old school craftsmanship and value the way our ancestors made beautiful pieces of art, all by hand. Handmade in El Salvador with fine quality materials from start to finish, each and every item we given birth to has a purpose, a story behind, making it special and one of a kind.
“By treasuring the value that underlies the making of our timeless handmade pieces, we connect the past to the present, while looking towards the future. Handmade is all about connection. In my experience, the older you get the more interested you get about your history. How your predecessors lived has always been a fascination and by reviving handmade I’m continuing this invisible thread that links us to them in a sustainable and fashionable way.”
DESIGNER
Born and raised in El Salvador, in the midst of an uprising civil war that lasted more than a decade, at an early age I came face to face with hard realities faced by our beautiful country and its people. I grew up in turmoil, witnessing constant struggles with extreme poverty, violence, natural disasters (earthquakes), a little too much for our tiny Central American country, smallest in the Western Hemisphere to bear with. Vivid impressions of what we lived marked profound footprints of my upbringing, character, values and my deep desire to do something good to honor my beloved El Salvador and to give back wherever possible. Despite our paradisiac location and gifted terrain, it has always been our people, Salvadorans, who represent the “icing on the cake” and who make our country as special as it is today. No matter the adversity, Salvadorans always seem to pick up the pieces and start anew. Resilience and hard work have always been defining characteristics, as well as our sense of optimism, faith and heavy tradition.
Since I can remember, I have always been obsessed with timeless handmade works of art, but most specifically have always had a weakness for handmade dolls and hand embroidery. Craftiness was always present in my life and was deeply rooted in me since young. I was heavily influenced by both my artistic grandmothers, who devoted countless hours to hand embroidery, knitting, hand painting, sowing, even gobelin making. I inherited their passion for handmade, the small details that sets things apart and create distinction and that are passed down from one generation to the next.
The birth of my daughter in 2012 became my inspiration to design retro inspired heirloom dolls under a brand that would become my vehicle for handcraft revival and so provide opportunities to talented local artisans at risk of losing some of our most important built heritage. After a year of product testing, planning, much imagination and passion, this entrepreneurial dream took complete form and in 2014 Manolitas was born. Manolitas, became my gateway to promote our country’s gifted artisan skills globally and give back to our society by contributing to the preservation of ancestral artisan techniques that give El Salvador its own identity, such as hand embroidery and hand smocking.
With much sacrifice, optimism and enthusiasm, I was determined to exhibit internationally to promote Manolitas, and since then have participated at: NYNOW (2014, 2017 & 2018), New World Crafts (2015), Spielwarenmesse, Nuremberg (2016) and AmericasMart Atlanta (2019). Our work has led us along many paths of new challenges, opportunities and dreams achieved. What first began with a 12 heirloom doll collection, suddenly grew to 5 additional doll collections plus the birth of our latest collection Me & My Manolita in 2018 which gave birth to our first designer hand embroidered/hand smocked children’s clothing line made to match that of our heirloom dolls. In addition, we’ve had the privileged to give birth to exclusive designs to important clients that have represented important growth opportunities to our small business.
ARTISANS
Manolitas provides meaningful, full time employment under fair trade principles to its amazing team of talented artisans from rural and at-risk communities in El Salvador that reign from generations of craftsman workers. It’s increasingly alarming the harsh difficulties artisans in El Salvador face with little support for their work, and an oversupply of under-valued goods, they are often forced to move into other lines of work, often resulting in the disappearance of ancestral artisan techniques, such as hand embroidery and hand smocking. Preserving and protecting their skills and knowledge is a growing challenge. Most of our artisans’ reign from generations of textile crafts workers and feel proud to maintain their traditions alive. Some have the privilege to work side by side to their siblings, third generation of hand embroiderers, who continue to master their handmade skills taught and inherited by their precedents at an early age. The majority of our artisans are women, sole providers of single parented homes.
All our work is performed in house in our private workshop which we’ve had the privilege to expand through the years, and so provide new working opportunities to talented artisans. Thanks to our amazing team and the combination of everyone’s unique talents, our pieces are born and come to life. Our artisans are best described as passionate hard working individuals, fighters, optimistic about new opportunities the future might bring and that strongly identify with our company motto, “love what you do”.
MISSION
Since 2014, it has been our mission since day one that all of our pieces are handmade with much care, purpose and pride. Also, it is our mission to safeguard the cultural heritage that lies behind each one of our handmade pieces; ensuring that our artisans knowledge and skills are passed on to future generations. The reason our made to order pieces take time to make, is because our artisans engage in custom making every luxury piece by hand giving each piece a true distinction, while transmitting their essence and energy into their work. We act as a gateway, a form of handcraft renaissance that requires much patience and precision. What’s behind, the value of each piece and the story of its creation is what sets us apart. In our workshop, we work in an environment where everything that is done is made with love, with real sentiment. We ensure that everything that is created is made in a fair and ethical way. We firmly guarantee, you will appreciate the value of each handmade piece made in your name.