Hello, Everyone,

It has been a while since my last update and almost two years since I began my journey in the Amazon.

Many things happened in my personal life after we returned from Perú last year in July. It has been quite eventful. I have been unable to travel to the Amazon since then.  So, I have been working via email, mail and phone with the artisans in Ecuador & Perú. Not being able to travel showed me that we can actually work using low technology and conventional delivery services, even though the artisans (especially the Awajún) may be located in remote parts of the Amazon. I love when I get a package of new samples and stock. Their work is absolutely exquisite!

Other artisans and communities have contacted me and want to work similarly. While I want to work with more of these communities, I am concentrating on the two communities (Cofán & Awajún) for now to establish a sustainable system. It takes a lot of resources to work with these communities. All have needs that have to be addressed. I now have a limited amount of stock to sell on the online store, which will be up soon! Orders from stores will also support the growth of our work.

As it becomes sustainable through sales, with profits shared with artisans and communities, I have also applied to a number of grants, which I am still awaiting results on. These funds would be beneficial to our work in the Amazon. I invite you to envision us getting (one of) these awards to continue our work with more funds. Each ranges from $80,000 to $100,000 and winning one would mean having the resources to further our efforts.

I also hired my husband Dylan, a talented metal artist and all around creative, to make a custom case to take the accessories to accounts. I had been using temporary boxes to take the work to appointments. I wanted a sustainable, made-in-the-US display case to take the accessories around. You can see this beautiful piece of functional art below and at www.orgbyvio.com/blog, as well as photos from our time in Awajún land.

I also added a new video from our travels to Urakusa in July 2011 to meet for the first time with Awajún artisans, who had invited me to begin a working relationship. The two days there were fruitful and well spent. It set the stage to begin our work, which as mentioned above, we have been able to do via internet, phone & mail. Please visit the link to watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/violetavillacorta

I look forward to traveling back to Dureno to work with the Cofán artisans of Asociación Sukû in Ecuador and the Awajún artisans in Urakusa, Perú in the months to come.

Looking forward to sharing more and doing another fundraiser again, so we can all work together and give in any way we can to people who are eager to share their culture, beauty and world with us, as they protect the lungs of our planet.

In Love of Culture & Planet.

Vio

Hello, everyone,

Not sure if any of you still check the updates. In any case, I love to share what's going on.

DESIGNERS & AGENTS
The D&A show at the Green Room in LA was a success. We made connections with stores and publications. There were a few highlights and I am compiling orders to send the artisans and join them to work together before October.

ORG by vio WEBSITE LIVE!
The ORG by vio website is now live online! It's is very exciting and am very happy to share it with you. You can visit it here to see the collections, videos, press, info on the projects and communities. I had been up many nights for weeks working on it. Due to low resources, I chose to do it myself with the help of Ionia Kershaw (a friend and also a Cofán contributor) & Kris from Ionia Design Studio , who set it up for me to generate all the content after they coded and added elements I wanted/needed to make a compelling presentation. Hope you enjoy visiting ORGbyvio.com!


VISIT TO THE AWAJUN IN URAKUSA, PERU
I am travelling to visit the Awajún artisans in Perú with my husband Dylan. The Awajún asociation of women artisans invited me to visit back in March and I was unable to make it then. I got an email from an Awajún representative, who mentioned that he had been looking for a way to connect with me, because he wanted me to work with their arts and crafts. It is a true honor to be conatcted directly by them requesting my visit. So, the time has come and we will spend a week with Awajún starting the 6th of July. We leave Monday and I look forward to sharing more on it.

Working on it all dilligently, while I am also figuring out my own personal and project finances while saving my home! Life is an interesting journey!

That's it for now. Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Blessings, Magic, Fun, Love & Light ♥

Vio

Hello, beautiful people,

It has been a long silence since my last update. I have traveled back to the Peruvian Amazon since my last post in January to meet with Deep in Forests again in March and I will be returning again in July. DiF is the network of indigenous communities and business entrepreneurs in Perú working to protect the cultures and rainforest through sustainable endeavors: ecotourism, fashion, carbon credit, food, traditional crafts and furniture industries from sustainably managed forests.

I have been busy doing a lot of "back end" work to continue the work with the Cofán and the work I am starting with Amazon communities in Perú.

I have been working with an eco brand strategist, Teresa Inés Cruz, who is working with me pro bono (thankfully) to generate press material and a strategy for ORG by vio, the registered trademark created to promote the work and products made by Amazon communities. "ORG" stands for Organic Rainforest Goods. The logo for ORG by vio was created by my brother Abel Villacorta.

The ORG by vio website will be done by mid month and I will be showing the Amazon accessories from the Cofán in Ecuador and the Awajún in Peru June 13-15 at the Designers & Agents fashion trade show in their Green Room, in downtown Los Angeles.

Here is a sampling of some of the promotional material: Website front page and a few photos on models. Note: Colors are more brilliant in real photos.

PDF files of the Press Kit in English and Spanish are available on my linkedin at http://www.linkedin.com/in/violetavillacorta

Hope you are having a wonderful year!

Love & Light ♥

Vio

Hello, friends and family,

Hope all is well with you. I recently wrote an article for Coco Eco magazine about the Cofán work in Ecuador you are all familiar with, and the beginning of the Deep in Forests partnership in Perú. Here is the link for your reading pleasure: http://www.cocoecomag.com. Click on current issue and go to page 100, "Journey into the Amazon". A photo of the article is also included below, but too small a print to read here.

I have chosen not to do another Kickstarter fundraiser at this time and instead promote the Cause I have created on Facebook Causes to raise funds periodically for the work with the artisans in Ecuador and Perú. I loved the energy that surrounded the fundraiser on Kickstarter in June/July. It was so amazing to have all of you be a part of it on so many levels. However, I spent many days without or little sleep for two months promoting the fundraiser and communicating with so many of you, who were spreading the word worldwide and made this first stage of the work with the Cofán possible. I need to use the time to create the promotional material, line sheets, and attend fashion trade shows to establish accounts that will sell the products.

In my vision, I see beautiful high end stores like a Fred Segal, Barneys or even a Bergdorf Goodman, have real estate in their stores where they sell exquisite high quality handcrafted treasures made by these rich communities. Can you see it?

Please visit my Facebook Cause at http://www.causes.com/causes/544977...& and share it with your friends.

Much Love & Light ♥

Vio

Hello, everyone,

Happy New Year 2011!!!!!!

It has been a few months. After coming back from my second trip to Ecuador, I traveled to Perú to an inspiring meeting of the minds and hearts in the Peruvian Amazon's Tambopata Reserve. A group of visionaries made up of entrepreneurs, creators and indigenous communities met and formed the network and partnership Deep in Forests to work in unison and add value to the forests through sustainable enterprises that protect the forest and cultures. A number of community leaders that were present at the meeting requested my visit to their communities, to work with them on arts and crafts products based on their respective traditions ~ shiringa rubber, textiles, seed accessories, and managed-forest wood products to name a few. This is an honor for me and I look forward to traveling there this year.

After Peru, I traveled to Brazil, and with only 3 weeks back and after festivities during the holidays, I have been playing catch up, while immersing back into my work. I have written an article about my work with the Cofán in Ecuador and about Deep in Forests in Perú for the Jan/Feb issue of the online magazine CocoEcoMag.com, which will be out next week.

I have received a few more addresses from you to send rewards and will be sending them in the next few weeks. I brought back beautiful artisan quartz crystals picked by independent campesinos in Perú and will be wrapping them soon into necklaces to send to those of you waiting for them.

As I continue my work with the Cofán, including presenting the collections I brought back directly to stores and through trade shows to get orders, I am planning to do another fundraiser through Kickstarter while I look for funding from corporate sponsors, so that this work continues to happen with the Cofán and I can begin work with the communities in the Peruvian Amazon with Deep in Forests. Deep in Forests is in its early stages and is looking for funds and sponsorship.

I am very excited about 2011! A year of transformation and spiritual awakening for humanity. So much wonderful work to do.

Thank you for all You do!

Blessings, Magic, Fun, love & Light ♥

Vio

Deep in Forests group photo by Wampis intellectual Shuar Velásquez