Everything I did not weave
Countless disrupted lines traced on a plane evoke unfinished paths that lead us to imagine stories with endings we will not know. Some lines cross like threads in warp and woof shaping fabrics, but these lines inevitably move forward to never meet again. Others, almost absent, are barely suggested by the subtraction of its fibers. Like dreams or thoughts, not clearly defined, they blur from this plane, but the emptiness left by his absence let us see a deeper territory.
We are threads of the territory that embrace us. This big fabric we inhabit, that we are part of, is constructed with our memories, knowledge and identity. As well, as it is constructed with our sorrow.
Violence, forced displacement, expropriation of lands, new ways of colonialism and the indifference of those how do not realize that we are threads from the same territory, weaken the fabric until it breaks, and vanishes the knowledge and tradition. Thus, it blurred the threads and the weft that weave the identity of the territory, it breaks the community and the fabric of tradition, making impossible to share the crafts and knowledge with the upcoming generations. These rupture from the territories, the people, the identities and the memory are the same rupture of the social fabric from which we are all part of.
The threads that compose us are vulnerable to break, but they can always be mended. Repair is an exercise that demands intention and patience, it is done from the inside and reflects on the outside. Every fiber contributes to the construction of a strong thread, as well as, every thread helps to forge a resilient fabric. The fragility or strength of this fibers, its multiple colors and textures make it part of our essence and contributes to bring live to thousands of shades and textures that are the great treasure of our diverse and unpredictable culture.
Everything I did not weave is not a collection, is an open project that inquiries from multiple knowledge and techniques different ways of understanding and reinterpreting the traditional crafts, through the horizontal dialogue and co-creation between artisans, communities and A NEW CROSS’ design team.
We explore and reinterpret knowledge and materials from different geographies, weaving in community, nourishing design with the encounter of a wide shade of tangible and intangible resources that Colombia offer us, with the contemporary gaze that has characterized the brand over the years. In this way, we learn and unlearn, while we mend and weave, contributing to the restoration of the void of uprooting and indifference. In this process, we want to encourage new generations of artisans as well as conscious consumers, the necessity of recover the memory of our history, our territory and our ancestral knowledge.
Agustín Nicolás Rivero.
The warp without weft is not fabric. The fiber needs a scaffolding to carry the memory.
Patience is also going back to the origin. To be able to construct us and be conscious of every movement, of every stitch.
