Page 199 - Artesania Catalogo_Neat

José De Ferrari
TRIP NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS OF THE ARTISANRY SECTOR OF THE
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, CATALOG OF DOMINICAN ARTISANRY 2012
Being able to locate and photograph artisanry for the
edition of this catalog has been a hard task calling for a
great deal of persistence.
This is because the artisans do not usually have in-
ventories on hand since they accumulate production only
when they have orders and participate in fairs and exhibits.
To compensate for this limiting factor, it was extreme-
ly useful to have photographed samples in the recent
Christmas Fair (December 2011) organized by the Ministry
of Culture and the Office of the First Lady and for the facili- being unable to compete in price and variety with the for-
ties offered by several stores, especially in Santo Domingo
and Las Terrenas, Samaná which allowed us to photograph
products and obtain data on the artisans.
However, the trips to the provinces were of great value
because of the new contacts made, in addition to getting
to better know the conditions of the workshops and new
production processes. During these trips, we were assisted
by master artisans and promoters who allowed us to share
in with the new elements of the sector, meet other creators
and to be able to re-encounter our friends of yesteryear.
These visits also take on significance with an eye to-
wards locating and integrating our artisans on the artisanal
and eco-tourist routes offered by tourism promoters.
The trips to the provinces were made according to the
six production zones used previously in diagnostics and
studies included in the index.
To carry out a sampling of the artisanry trade, the clas-
sification was made on the basis of the principal tasks,
products and raw materials that predominate in the country;
Pottery and ceramics, natural fibers, carvings of wood,
stone and gourds, papier maché, furniture making, har-
ness-making, cured skins, metallurgy (smithed, forged and
Adviser of Crafts Projects
of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce
cast iron), jewelry, costume jewelry, musical instruments, re-
cycled and others as fashion accessories and home deco-
ration made of coconut shell, bone and horn.
The products presented enable us to observe a good
overview of the Dominican artisan universe which is difficult
to appreciate in the market due to the immense amounts
of imported artisanry which, in many cases, are labeled and
sold as national products.
This phenomenon directly affects our artisans by their
eign products, many of them produced in factories.
The disappointing sales also detract from the attrac-
tion of purchases from the target country because the
tourist-customers feel cheated when they visit gift shops
and ask to buy Dominican artisanry and the salesperson
has to lie and show them foreign products whose themes
and materials are similar to ours.
Although this situation has been taken into account in
the law on protection and promotion of Dominican artisan-
ry (currently before the Congress) the governmental au-
thorities, specifically the Ministries of Tourism and Culture,
need to start disclosing the logistics and methodology to
establish a certification of quality and brand of origin, which
offers the tourist confirmation that they are acquiring na-
tional products.
“Quality” bears repetition; not only those of national ori-
gin merit being certified.
And what would these artisanry products be, since
there could be many of those presented in this catalog?
This publication is also an important reference for the
artisans themselves because they will be able to appre-
ciate the work of their colleagues which could facilitate
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