"Custom Tradition offers artisans a platform to promote their work. " -Chiasma Ku Penn Swagerty, Impact Maker

Custom Tradition is a fair trade non-profit organization that supports indigenous women artisans by promoting their handicrafts to a global market. They currently work with a women-led collective of palm basket weavers from the indigenous Mixtec community of Oaxaca, Mexico.

The artisan sector is the second largest employer of the developing world, bringing in $32 billion/year, yet the indigenous artisans who make up this sector struggle to be recognized for their work due to ongoing cultural erasure, poverty, and lack of access to information. Custom Tradition's mission is to support our artisans in ways that their local governments have not, by creating economic opportunities, promoting their work, and giving them a voice.

The demand for our artisan’s handicrafts has been proven both online and via in-person sales, however, we lack the external funding needed to successfully run Custom Tradition so that we can sustainably support our artisans.

During a solo trip to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2019, Chisama Ku Penn encountered many indigenous artisans and began to listen to their stories of struggling to thrive within their different communities and nation at large. It was after spending three weeks with an indigenous women-led collective of palm basket weavers that she decided to start Custom Tradition to support them and the work they do. 

Donate to Custom Tradition

Learn more about Custom Tradition