More than 111 entrepreneurs and small and medium companies of Central America, Colombia and Ecuador displayed new and original products at New World Crafts 2019 (NWC), which took place September 24-25th in Antigua Guatemala. The event was organized by AGEXPORT’s Handmade Commission with support from the European Union’s program “More Competitive Cooperatives and SMEs”.
New World Crafts has evolved from being an event to display the quality of handmade products to become the best event for international buyers to get to know not only Guatemalan handmade designs but also from other countries of the region. Products displayed at New World Crafts included home decoration, personal accessories, gifts and fashion products. At this 2019 edition, we got the attention from buyers of Tunisia (Northern Africa) which joined the more than 100 Guatemalan and international buyers that attended the event. We forecasted more than USD 1 million businesses closed as a result of the event; said Mrs. Luisa Villavicencio, president of AGEXPORT’s Handmade Commission.
International buyers that joined the event came from countries like the United States, Mexico, France, Germany, Sweden, England and Northern Africa. These buyers represented some of the most exclusive decoration stores, personal accessories brands, boutique stores and special stores such as: Departament of Artisan, Baufer latina, Driftless style, Greater Goodm, Igneous, Purs&clutch, Target, The Citizenry, among others.
Along the companies that displayed their unique designs at New World Crafts, 50% of them were talented Guatemalan artisans of areas like the Highlands, Peten and Sacatepequez. The rest included international delegations from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Colombia; said Mrs. Villavicencio.
