Colombian craft practitioner, researcher, and designer based in Stockholm
Master in Fashion Studies, Stockholm University
Master in Design, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Advanced studies in Craft Research Methodologies, Konstfack – University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, Sweden
Research Interests
Craft, Indigenous knowledge systems, material culture, decolonial museum practice, sustainability, and practice-based artistic research.
Craft Expertise
Accessory design • Upcycled leather bags • Traditional craftsmanship • Material experimentation
Founder
Castelblanco – Independent design studio founded in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2008.
I am a Colombian craft practitioner, designer, and researcher whose work has always begun with making. Since founding my brand, Castelblanco, in Bogotá in 2008, I have designed handbags that reinterpret traditional leatherworking techniques while reflecting on the environmental and social implications of fashion. My background in Political Science has shaped my understanding of design not simply as the creation of objects, but as a cultural and political practice capable of questioning dominant systems of production and knowledge.
Over time, my practice has expanded from design into research, driven by a desire to learn from Indigenous knowledge systems and to understand craft as a way of knowing, remembering, and sustaining cultural life. This path has led me from the workshop to museums and archives, where I investigate the relationships between material culture, heritage, and decolonial practice. Rather than separating making from research, I see craft as both my method and my way of thinking.
As a Latina researcher living between Colombia and Sweden, I work across different cultural contexts, connecting communities, collections, and institutions through collaborative and practice-based approaches. My research explores how craft can generate dialogue across geographies and histories, while contributing to more ethical relationships with Indigenous cultural heritage.
My work is grounded in three commitments: environmental responsibility through small-scale artisanal production and the use of reclaimed materials; slow fashion as an alternative to extractive models of consumption; and respect for traditional knowledge as a living source of creativity, resilience, and social transformation. Whether designing a bag, studying an ethnographic collection, or collaborating with Indigenous artisans, I am interested in how material practices carry memory, transmit knowledge, and create possibilities for more just and sustainable futures.
EDUCATION
2021-2023 Master in Fashion Studies, 120 credits,
Stockholm University.
2019–2020 Research Lab Craft Post-MA Course, 60
credits, Konstfack University of Arts, Craft and Design.
2018- 2020 Master in Design, 120 credits, National University of Colombia. Bogotá, Colombia
2011 - 2012 Traditional Craft techniques for leather
making. Servicio Nacional de
Aprendizaje (SENA), Bogotá Colombia
2010– 2011 Accessory design and production
processes. Espacio Buenos Aires,
Argentina
2002-2007 Bachelor in Political Science, 270 credits, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions. Renegotiating Material Culture group exhibition.
Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm in collaboration with Konstfack, University
of arts, crafts and design. April 29 - August 22, 2020.
Stockholm Craftweek. Craftsight Exhibition and talk.
Upcycled leather bags. Bio Tellus, October- November 2020.
Conferences. Biennial International Conference for the Craft Sciences 2025
Hybrid Bags: Identity, Ecology & Heritage – An Autoethnographic Journey in Traditional Craftsmanship and Threads of Continuity: Ethics, Materiality & the Future of Iku/Arhuaco Textile Heritage in Swedish Museum Archives.
International Seminar: Towards Decolonizing Futures - Languages, Culture, Art, and Nature Under and Against Settler Colonialism". November 11-12, 2023. Biimata, Okinawa, Japan.
4to Congreso Internacional de Investigación en Diseño. Facultad de Artes. 4-6 October, 2023. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Biennial International Conference for the Craft Sciences. May 4-6, 2021. Department of Conservation at the University of Gothenburg and The Craft Laboratory, Gothemburg, Sweden.
International Seminar "Decolonizing Futures: Transforming an Era of Environmental Catastrophe, Poverty, Hatred, Discrimination and Violence into an Era of Hope". 12-15 July 2024. Meio University, Okinawa, Japan.
RESEARCH WORK AND PUBLICATIONS
Article. Rehilando Conocimientos textiles: un estudio decolonial de la cultura material iku/arhuaca en los archivos del Museo Nacional de Culturas del Mundo en Gotemburgo, Suecia (Världskulturmuseet). ACTIO Journal of Technology in Design Film Arts and Visual Communication. Vol. 8 Núm. 2 (2024). DOI: 10.15446/actio.v8n2.117116
Article. Craft as resistance: A case study of three Indigenous craft traditions. Craft Research, Volume 13, Number 2, 1 September 2022. Intellect. https://doi.org/10.1386/crre_00085_1
Chapter. Manifestations of nonviolent resistance in the Iku mochila Women Crafted bag. Decolonizing Futures, Uppsala Multiethnic Papers 57. The Hugo Valentin Center, Uppsala University Kph,2022. ISBN 978-91-527-1997-8
Paper. Manifestations of social resistance in Craft processes: Iku, Nasa and Sámi indigenous craft. May 2021FormAkademisk - forskningstidsskrift for design og designdidaktikk 14(2) DOI: 10.7577/formakademisk.4179
Research report. Renegotiating Material Culture. Meaning Containers. Konstepidemin publishing house. August 2020 ISBN: 978-91-88691-13-2
PRACTICAL WORK
2025 Amulet bags. HDK.Valand
2019-2020 “The Meaning Containers”. Projects using
natural materials (Raffia palm fibers) and recycled materials. Konstfack and
the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm.
2018-2019 “Upcycled Containers”, handbags made with
recycled materials
2017-2018 “The Pindo Palm Collection”, Pindo palm Craft
2016-2017 “Old and new”, handbags made with recycled
materials
2015-2016 “Amulet Bags”, handbags
2013-2014 “The black collection”, handbags
2011–2012 “Hybrids”, handbags
2010-2011 “Artisanal, Ornamental”, handbags
2009-2010 “My favorite toy”, handbags
2008-2009 “The bags tale”, handbags
2007-2008 “The Castelblanco Project”, handbags