Crafted Conversation: DAR Proyectos
Bringing the best of High Andes design together with modern design principles
Published by Nest, a nonprofit providing no-cost business development resources to creative entrepreneurs worldwide, Crafted Conversations brings you the inside stories from artisans and makers who are leaning into handcraft as a form of self-expression, a means to social and economic mobility, and a way to celebrate and preserve their culture. Prepare to be inspired, educated and involved in their craft and businesses.
Through a chance meeting in the Amazon, textile designer Jenny Boucher and industrial designer Mauricio Navarro came together to form DAR Proyectos. Through working with artisans in the Peruvian Andes, they transform semi-precious stones into design-forward games, puzzles and home decor pieces. Discover how their embrace of a slower lifestyle and fading traditional artisan techniques have led them to the cutting edge of design.
NEST: What is one thing you wish people knew about being a maker?
DAR Proyectos: We work with 10+ traditional techniques within crafts that include stone carving of course, but also woodcarving, metalwork and textiles. Our magic may well be in the mixing of mediums, as we’re able to combine a wide range of techniques and processes to bring an idea to life. This adds complexity to our processes, but it allows us to create differentiated pieces that are hard to knock off!
“Being able to alternate between our two worlds (Peru & Canada) as we blend craft techniques with design and retail partners all over the world is really exciting for us.”
NEST: What gives you the most joy in your work?
DAR Proyectos: We get a lot of joy from the lifestyle our work-life balance provides, as we get to travel to places we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to. Being able to alternate between our two worlds (Peru & Canada) as we blend craft techniques with design and retail partners all over the world is really exciting for us.
NEST: What is the biggest pain point in your work?
DAR Proyectos: MARKETING! We love design, and working with remote communities, and this includes creating engaging content to share the stories behind our work. However, as the market has begun shifting so rapidly these past years, keeping up with this role has been a definite challenge.
NEST: What is a career highlight?
DAR Proyectos: We have been awarded by Tom Dixon when we won Best Product Design through the Grey Magazine Awards - this is a designer we admire very much, and to have him select a project of ours that we were very proud of was a fantastic moment.
This project called Weaving the Light was the result of working with a very particular and traditional technique that gathered 300 artisans in a regional network, and this particular product blended innovation in a way that we knew captured something very special.
“With artisanal production, there are often invisible barriers that prevent things from flowing well, and being hands on allows us to really understand and confront these details and create better product for it.”
NEST: What is one thing you love about your community? Why?
DAR Proyectos: We are lucky to live where we produce our work. We are beside the Pacific and can surf every morning, visit the artisans to work through new design ideas in the afternoon, and enjoy the classic culture of northern Peru. We just got back from a trip to the highlands - driving 3 hours east places us 3000m up into the highlands - where we were able to visit one of the artisanal mines we work with, and its always so rewarding to get to work hands on with the community. With artisanal production, there are often invisible barriers that prevent things from flowing well, and being hands on allows us to really understand and confront these details and create better product for it.
“Building something with a long-term vision is crucial for allowing the craft to flourish; otherwise, we risk seeing artisans pursue more consistent work elsewhere and abandon cultural traditions.”
NEST: Where do you see your business in Five years?
DAR Proyectos: We plan to build a permanent location here, with a spot we can invite designers, artists and creatives to come and stay with us as a sort of adventure-culture-craft-residency, allowing them to participate in the dynamic elements of our community with us.
NEST: Is there anything you would like to share about your craft technique and its heritage?
DAR Proyectos: Building something with a long-term vision is crucial for allowing the craft to flourish; otherwise, we risk seeing artisans pursue more consistent work elsewhere and abandon cultural traditions. We are so honored to work with some rural textile communities in the highlands that maintain backstrap loom weaving as a main priority in their local culture, and they are world renowned for the quality of their work. We want to enable and encourage that pride in their identity through ongoing design development and production projects.
