Yupukari Crafters
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The first Yupukari Crafters piece came about because seating was needed for the village library. The village woodworkers who built Caiman House Field Station were drafted as furniture makers.
Many prototypes later a dining set went on display at a local crafts fair. Orders began to come in, from local ecotourist guesthouses and visitors. Pieces placed in a local shop sold out in two weeks.
Using local "moonwood" (saplings harvested only during periods of full moon, when insects depart); cowhide (the Rupununi is cattle country); wild-picked, homespun, hand-woven cotton, and a variety of reeds and woody plants, the pieces are joined without glue, screws or nails: precise tenons yield a rustic, handmade chair that nonetheless packs flat and assembles with IKEA simplicity.
With the mentorship of Jocelyn Dow at Liana Cane in Georgetown, the original group of woodworkers, along with interested Termites (members of the youth woodworking group), have formed Yupukari Crafters, a for-profit project to provide jobs in the village and to create an income stream for literacy in an under-resourced community. Both salaried positions and a steady market for piecework have been created, with profits directed toward the building of classroom and public libraries, instruction in the teaching of reading, and librarian training.