Imagine a place where in one vast complex you can shop for hand-woven goods from the Colombian Pacific of the Choco, help generate an income for the jewelry makers of troubled Mompox, so threatened by flooding, or spy out Colombia’s next hottest fashion designer. Look no further than the Expoartesanias exhibition in Bogota’s Corferias conference centre.
Known for its annual book fair and as the epicenter for the biannual Iboamerican Theatre Festival, Corferias is annually the location for a serious melee of artists and designers wishing to exhibit their wares and perhaps catch the eye of some international buyers.
Expoartesanias 2010: When and Where?
This massive display of Colombia’s embarrassment of riches in handmade and intricately designed goods is held every year in December in Corferias. This year the event runs from December 7 to 20 and promises to be a successful event despite economic woes and personal belt tightening. In 2009 Expoartesanias defied the odds and pulled in an estimated 88,000 visitors and this year organisers are hoping for more.
What’s On Display at Expoartesanias?
In short, anything and everything is on display here, and everything is for sale. Lost for ideas for that perfect Christmas present, you’re advised to hot foot it down here and have a nose around.
With 850 artisans from 32 of Colombia’s departments and 14 Asian and other Latin American countries there is a great deal on display and as one onlooker commented: “This is an opportunity not only for these artists to sell to a domestic and international market, but it can help to export our culture.”
Colombian Culture on Display
Perhaps you are only in town on business or just stopping through, head to the Pavilion given over and dedicated to wares produced by the Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities and you will be transported to far off and exotic territories of lesser known parts of Colombia. Interact with people from Guainia and Vichada or haggle with the expert salespeople of the Guajira.
Christmas Gift Ideas
Very often the vendors here are keen to offload their fine products here during Expoartesanias and so you can always ask, albeit respectfully, for a discount. Why not look for some painstakingly created filigree silver jewelry from Mompox or Wayuu mochilas from the Guajira. If these are not your scene, perhaps head to the international pavilion to check out what is on offer from the cubicles belonging to salesmen from Bolivia, Mexico, Peru or Malaysia.
The Expoartesanias Business Fair
Giving Colombian artesans and outlet to present and pitch their ideas and products to the world, the Business Fair will help locals promote their goods to buys from 26 different countries including many from Europe and the Americas.
Entry Costs to Expoartesanias and Opening Times
General entry costs 13,000 Colombian Pesos or roughly US$7 per person and the conference centre is open daily from December 7th to 20th from 10am to 8pm.
Richard McColl - I am a freelance writer from deepest darkest London but for the past 10 years or so I have been maintaining my extended "writing break" in ...
