Today we’d like to introduce you to Katharine Harlow.
Katharine, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve had a love for travel and learning about other cultures from a young age. After earning a degree in history, I moved to South Korea to teach English. During this time I really began to appreciate the unique pieces and art forms that I found during my travels. When I returned I to The States I realized that I wanted to pursue something that would allow me to combine these two passions – but I didn’t know where to begin! I started looking for jobs and ended up working with a Fair Trade company for a few years where I learned a lot about sustainability and working with artisans.
I had always known that I wanted to begin by working in South America, so after I left my job I went on a long trip through the continent to start building relationships and creating a network. I had actually planned to move quickly through Peru, as I didn’t think I wanted my business to be focused there – but as luck would have it, I completely fell in love and happened to make some amazing connections almost immediately. After that, I didn’t even finish the trip! I stayed for a couple of months, started working on the business and now I spend about half of the year there!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing is ever completely smooth – especially when working with artisans thousands of miles away! The biggest challenge for me has been making sure that the quality is where we want it to be and making sure that projects are completed on time. I’ve learned to make sure to budget extra time for holidays and festivals happening Peru, as well as making sure to pad our shipping times to have product arrive on schedule for the upcoming season. We’re still a very young company (we officially started about a year and a half ago), so this is something that has improved quite a lot now that we have a full year under our belts!
Keeka Collection – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Keeka Collection works with artisans in Peru to handpick vintage textiles and create fresh, modern designs from those pieces. We focus mainly on home decor but also carry small personal accessories such as handbags and accessory bags. Our pillows are our top sellers and we recently began a re-upholstery project that I’m very excited about that will be launching this fall.
We’re very proud to be helping to bring the beautiful textile art of Peru to a wider audience and to have the opportunity to provide employment and support to our artisan partners. There’s really been a shift in the past 10 years or so towards conscious consumerism and eco-friendly, sustainable products and we couldn’t be more excited that we’re able to upcycle these beautiful textiles and bring them new life by creating pieces that can be used in modern ways.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I’m most proud that we’re able to give back to the community with which we work – we’re able to provide fair wages for our partners to use to pay for their children’s education and provide a platform for them to sell their beautiful work to a wider audience.
Contact Info:
- Address: We’re part of the Mosaic Makers Collective in Bishop Arts, along with 8 other women owned small business.
410 N. Bishop Ave. #103 Dallas, TX 75208 - Website: www.keekacollection.com
- Email: hello@keekacollection.com
- Instagram: keekacollection
- Facebook: keekacollection
Image Credit:
Katie Hutchison (headshot)
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