Page 208 - Artesania Catalogo_Neat

Valentín Guerrero
NOTES ON RE-DISCOVERING DOMINICAN CRAFTS
In the Dominican Republic, artisans, marketers, pro-
moters, technicians, researchers and experts have dedicat-
ed time and resources to navigating the inner passages of
Dominican crafts, looking for a way to define its character-
istics and find some ray of light on its sands that they could
agree was ¨the country trademark.¨ But, with the opening
and growth of the modern market, it has become urgent to
classify the products of this industry in order to frame its
concepts, unify criteria and put a value to the quality and
cultural features of its expressions.
It is practical, on the occasion of this selection, to ex- mastery of native raw materials cause these craft products
change information with the actors in the sector in order
to contribute towards the unification of the technical lan-
guage throughout the value chain.
In this regard, it seems pertinent to share these
considerations on crafts, handicrafts and hybrids which
are the fruit of the research of a multi-disciplinary team
and the consensus of the directors of crafts of some of
the countries in Central and South America, Mexico and
the Caribbean, we who are joined together in the Ibero-
American Network of Parties Responsible for Crafts (Red
Iberoamericana de Responsables de Artesanía – RIRA)
In our journey towards the definition of Dominican
crafts, these precise clarifications put us in consonance
with current trends and help us to put our ideas in order.
We see crafts as ¨an object or product born of community
cultural identify, made by continuous manual processes,
with the use of rudimentary tools and some with a mechan-
ical function that ease certain tasks. The basic raw material
208 | Artesanía Dominicana | Dominican Crafts
Director General of the National Crafts Center
Centro Nacional de Artesanía - CENADARTE –Ministry of Culture
to be transformed is generally obtained in the region where
the artisan lives. The mastery of the traditional techniques
of the community patrimony enables the artisan to create
different objects with diverse quality and skill, imprinting,
further, the ideological and symbolic values from local cul-
ture. Crafts are created as a short- or long-lived product,
and their original function is determined in the cultural and
social sector; in this regard, it can be dedicated to domestic,
ceremonial, artistic, ornamental, fashion use or even as a
work implement. At present, the production of crafts tends
more and more towards marketing. The appropriation and
to have a regional or community identity of their own and
this enables the creation of a line of products with particu-
lar decorative designs that distinguish them from others”.
On this point, I would like to highlight, by way of exam-
ple, the contributions of the National Office of Intellectual
Property (Oficina Nacional de Propiedad Intelectual –
ONAPI) – of our country, which has delivered two collective
brands to our own crafts: The Wooden Saints Collective (El
Colectivo Santos de Palo) of the Province Monseñor Nouel,
Bonao and the Imberlita Collective to the Association of
Crafts Producers of Petrified Wood (Colectiva Imberlita a
la Asociación de Productores de Artesanías de Madera
Petrificada) of Puerto Plata since, in both cases, it places a
value on the cultural characteristics, the techniques of the
task and the raw material utilized by these communities
of artisans. At present, the ONAPI team is advancing in
the research to develop the collective brand for the potters