Our Designers

Peruvian Designers:

Mauricio Navarro
Art and Product Designer, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Mauricio works with a team, as part of design studio Kux in Lima, building creative projects to let the magic of the Andean culture stay alive. These projects aim to insert local identity into contemporary product design. www.kux.com.pe

Most recently, Mauricio is working together with government and sponsor corporations in order to develop uniquely Peruvian heritage designs. His dynamic skills have him developing craft with indigenous craftsmen, and both preserving and refreshing folk art practices in various regions of Peru. Several of his successful projects have received awards in Peru, and in the international design field:

  • German design awards 2016. Frankfurt, Alemania
  • A´Design Awards 2015. Milan, Italia
  • Padis 2015. Lima, Peru
  • Reconocimiento a la excelencia en artesania, Unesco 2014. Lima, Peru
  • Start up Peru 2014, innovation constest. Lima, Peru
  • Peruvian design team member in  MISCUR2014.  Mar del Plata, Argentina

Kristie Arias

IMG_3094Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and Masters Degree in Fine Arts from The Byram Shaw School of Art of London, Kristie specialized in Fashion Management at the Private International Institute of Arts and Fashion of Paris, Mod’Art Lima.

After working with several renowned designers and being part of the designing team of one of Lima’s most important department stores, Kristie has designed textiles for several companies linked with the industrial, craft loom and sustainable development projects in Peru.

Her fashion trends research and interpretation skills have allowed her to stay up-to-date and successfully unravel the close bond currently prevailing between fashion and art. In this way, and thanks to her expertise, she has achieved to stand out in various fields of the fashion world through unexpected proposals. Website

Roxi Castillo

Interior Designer, Fashion and Jewelry Designer. Winner of the First Prize for Filigree in the Peru Patronage Plate, 2011. Trainer in drawing, design and development for Jewelry collections. Trainer in design and development for plant fiber artisanal products made from paja toquilla, palma and junco. Values Peruvian artisan production as the identity and cultural patrimony of our nation and wishes to be one of the mentors for the internationalization of our artisans.  Works closely with artisans in distinct cities of the country, seeking to elevate our quality and to modernize our designs. Currently overseeing the development of grass-woven prototypes from the region of Piura in a Trade and Branding project under the auspices of Mincetur and the Canadian Embassy looking to increase sustainability and exports for Peruvian craft.

Designers In Canada:

Munira Amin

Munira Amin is inspired by the rich heritage of local crafts and cultures in her native Pakistan. She is interested in sustaining traditional methods and collaborating with skilled artisans. Her work encompasses the idea of fabrics having memories from the past, including memories of those who made them and the time, place and cultural context in which they were made.

In her design work, she re-examines traditional techniques such as block printing, Ajrak printing, indigo dyeing and embroidery and places them within a contemporary frame- work. She collaborates with a hand block-printing workshop in Karachi, a woman’s col- lective in Multan, and a natural dye workshop in Sindh, Pakistan to develop collections of soft furnishings for international markets. Munira Amin is a graduate in product design of the National College of Arts, Pakistan and a former faculty member at the Pakistan Design Institute as well as being a founding member of Design Collective, Karachi.  http://www.muniraamin.com/

Rachel MacHenry

Rachel MacHenry has worked with traditional artisans in South Asia for many years, developing textile products for European and North American markets. Most recently, she has been involved with artisans in Haiti through the Brand Aid Project and currently is collaborating with BioDye India on a line of naturally dyed materials (www.botanicat- inctoria.com). She collaborates with artisan communities, working to sustain traditional skills and researching bio-regional materials such as plant dyes and local fibres. Her work has been available through Holt, Renfrew & Co., Selvedge UK, Takashimaya, Barney’s Japan, Anthropologie and other prestigious retailers and is in the permanent design collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK. Rachel MacHenry studied at Central Saint Martin’s, University of the Arts, London, UK. A former Studio Head/Textiles at Sheridan College, she now teaches at OCAD University, Toronto. http://www.rachelmachenry.com/

Jenny Boucher

As a Handwork Studio Design Associate, Jenny Boucher brings both technical and conceptual design support to the studio’s design team. Jenny is a graduate in Fashion Design from Parsons the New School for Design, NYC, and also holds a degree from the University of Western Ontario in Media, Information and Technoculture. Having grown up in an environment of makers, Jenny has always been examining the clever ways in which things are made. Her passion for creating and bringing ideas to life has happily developed into a knack for designing conceptual products with unique details. She has created iconic and contemporary soft goods for Canadian brands such as the Drake General Store, Hudson’s Bay Signature, the CBC, and most recently TIFF’s Stanley Kubrick exhibition. http://www.jennyboucher.com/