This former TreadRight project came about when TRIA ETC, founded in 2014, was looking to help revitalize Greece’s artisan sector by promoting artisanal skills to Greece’s younger generations and assisting those already working to maintain these important traditions through access to the international marketplace.
Enabling communities to identify and implement their own homegrown traditional solutions to the economic crises is central to TRIA ETC’s vision. TRIA ETC’s founders have travelled extensively throughout Greece connecting with local artisans, many of them having returned to rural life as the economic crises has made urban living too expensive for them.
While these activities present a viable option to generate income for many rural artisans, they lack access to markets outside of their own communities, meaning there simply isn’t enough demand for them to work on their craft fulltime and make a living.
Artisans throughout Greece are creating unique and inspiring heritage works such as hand woven shawls, tagari bags, and pillow and bed spreads, as well as handcrafted belt buckles, ceramic bowls and plates. However, without a connection to larger markets, their ability to work as artisans while supporting their families is unsustainable.
Funding from TreadRight, distributed in partnership with the Artisan Alliance, was used to commission artisan works from individual artisans and community cooperatives alike. By commissioning works and handicrafts, the artisans were given the ability to focus on their craft as their main source of income, turning what was, in effect, simply a heritage hobby into a viable source of income.
TRIA ETC then markets these exquisite handicrafts through their extensive international network of fashion and lifestyle e-shops and boutiques, helping to raise the profile of the artisans and their craft.
Through this project, local artisans in Greece were able to turn a heritage hobby into a source of income, providing them decent work.
TRIA ETC teaches the traditional way of making cultural handicrafts to young students in Greece who will carry on and safeguard this tradition, contributing to the protection of the Greece’s cultural heritage.
