Living Heritage: Innovation and Cultural Value Lab

Combining tradition with the contemporary

Living Heritage was a 20-hour training program involving 20 embroiderers from Zuleta and neighboring communities.

Over four days, the participants explored new ways of understanding, telling, and strengthening the cultural value of this remarkable craft, drawing on their own memories, creative authorship, and inherited techniques, while also considering opportunities within today’s fashion markets.

The embroidery tradition of Zuleta has been passed from generation to generation and continues to play an important role in the cultural identity and economic life of the community.

Through highly participatory methodologies, the main objective was to recognize the enormous cultural, creative, and human value of the knowledge and skills they already possess, and to explore how this heritage can open the door to new opportunities, new markets, and new forms of value.

The initiative also reflects a broader conversation taking place around culture and community at Hacienda Zuleta: how to preserve inherited knowledge while allowing it to evolve, remain relevant, and create new opportunities for the people who keep it alive.

We are confident that the results of this inspiring experience will continue to unfold and bear fruit in the years to come!