I remember going to Madonna's designer, Richard
TYLER, 
to
his gorgeous Shop on MEROSE or BEVERLY Blvd., I think, in chi chi West
Hollywood and showing him Guatemalan hand woven Cotton. Offering it up
for sale. TYLER went crazy, enthusiastically said he'd buy all he could
get for making Blazers for his movie star clients.I
went to Tyler on account of my friendship with an American hipppie kind
of guy who loved that squalid, mortal country, went anually just
to smoke their local cigarettes and drink their beer and go up to the mountain
villages full of looms.I gave up that hippie
pal after a fatal dinner in some chic Hollywood cafe. We came out to the
street and walking back to the car, he suddenly took it into his drunken
head to ask me and my friend Dianne if he could relieve himself. He turned
and DID. On a lampost. I quickly gave up my
fascination with HIS ROAMING and SHOPPING TALENTS but I never gave up my
admiration for the textiles of Guatemala. THEIR fabric is gorgeous to DIE.
Incandescent, psychdelic hippie STRIPES kind of like that Italian designer
MISSONI does in knits, but this is on strong, handloomed cotton.
I bought fabric in Mexico a lot but I never made
it to Guatemala. I know how dangerous it is. First, the weavers are up
in the mountains, in remote areas. And second, the soldiers there are ruthless.
Carlos Castaneda the psychdelic KAHUNA who looked like Desi Arnaz (only
slightly hunchback, 5'2" and with yellow eye orbs holding BLACK IRISES,)
was an astrology client once. He told me about the period when he was building
his ranch. How the Guatemalan army came into his rural area and rounded
everybody up. He said, 'they'd have shot me if their finger itched. They
were weird, very dangerous." During the CIA's anti-comunista years, in
the 70's and 80's, these soldiers (instructed by the CIA) all became death
squads, eradicating everybody in about six villages in the QUICHE province.
Every man, woman, child, and dog as they didn't want hungry witnesses running
around. Google the word 'QUICHE' and 'genocide'
if you want. Here is a blog by Americans who went not to QUICHE but to
the mountains where weavers live. . MOUNTAIN
WEAVER TRIP.
Anyway, those textiles are heavenly and make up for all that. Let this inspire you to journey there. In a group, with Traveler's checks and American EMBASSY checks --on your welfare that is. Or go to PRISCILLA BIANCHI and order up a stack from right there where you sit now, today.
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HAND WOVEN COTTONS are the basic staple
of good home decorating. Your pillows, sofa, chairs, tablecloths, curtains
need to be of sturdy cotton that you can throw in the washing machine.
America does not produce handwoven cotton fabrics. You can make a very
good business bringing in BOLTS of good cotton and wholesaling it by the
bolt to designers, the Decorator's District shops, etc.
The
Textile
Industry
of INDIA
has
a fabulous, long three thousand year history of weaving fabulous texiles
in all weights, silk and linen, cotton mostly. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/intx/hd_intx.htm
is about that.
Then look at what they do with cotton in KARACHI,
PAKISTAN.
CANVAS BAGS, purses, totes, duffles. They
let you design them, call the shots. So design a line of SOFT LUGGAGE!
STUFFABLES or SQUNCHIES. http://www.nizamcanvas.com/bag/duffle.htm
Make it a fad. Make it cool. Do it in gumdrop colors. And the selling point
is that when you want, you throw them in the washer! http://www.nizamcanvas.com/bag/
There is a business you can do with these two sources. If you design and
know the marketplace.
http://www.nizamcanvas.com/apparel/other.htm
is
clothing, also from KARACHI, PAKISTAN.
Nizam which is that corporation, also has
lovely Refugee tents. I'd love one of those for camping out. They are gorgeous
and would be a great ITEM of MERCHANDISE to wholesale to sports shops around
USA. And to the BOYSCOUTS. See it: http://www.nizamcanvas.com/refugee1.htm
and wholesale to homeless communities. Cities would buy them for the community.
Tent cities. And for farmers with itinerant workers.
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The
TEXTILE
INDUSTRY
OF MEXICO ALSO
has a fabulous, long history of making very strong cotton fabrics, useful
for UPHOLSTERING FURNITURE, Tablecloths, draperies, napkins, pillow covers.
CHARMING fabrics with a slubby texture. I particularly like the way they
do PLAIDS which they do in GUMDROP
COLORS.
WRITE "TELAS TIPICAS" below and order a sample
bolt or two of CAMBAYA (dress or frock cotton ) OR MANTA (UPHOLSTERY
weight COTTON). This particular plant manager (BELOW) speaks English, so
in your letter, ask for his EMAIL, his factory's BANK so that you can send
a MONEY ORDER or bank to bank payment. Ask for the NAME he'd want the CHECK
TO BE WRITTEN IN, if a MONEY ORDER. Tell him you want to set up an account
to order bolts of fabric MONTHLY. So maybe get his bank account number.
Stipulate that the fabric on A FEW OF THE bolts should be an UPHOLSTERY
WEIGHT COTTON, like MANTA, a HANDWOVEN LOOK, just short of burlappy! You
want these in a plaid, which is RAYOS CRUZADOS. (LIke GINGHAM but having
more colors and wider stripes.) Ask for wide 'rayos' or stripes, 1" inch
max to 3/4 " in places, and here and there a thin stripe. Stipulate that
they should vary the width of stripes, for interest.....but plaid in any
language means crossed stripes as where the lines intersect, the colors
blend to form a NEW COLOR. Stipulate that it should be in gumdrop
or gelato colors, lime, melon, apple, peach, apricot, lilac as these combinations
give SOFT, new colors. PASTELS is ENGLISH for light colors, but in SPANISH
it means dessert CAKES. Well. not a problem confectionary colors. SAY GUMDROP
colors. TRY THESE GUYS as they came recommended by the MEXICO CITY
BASED gal who supplies ROSA MEXICANO restaurants of NEW YORK CITY with
their fabric.
TELAS TIPICAS Y ARTESANIAS, .
Crespo No. 213
Centro 68000 OAXACA OAXACA
Tel.(951)60654 Fax.(951)64239
Estab 1983
Douglas K. French, Exports Manager
# of Employees: 11
Product: Cotton fabric
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