Violeta Villacorta

Help Us Complete the Awajun Project

The 28th of January is my birthday, a day to celebrate one more spin around the Sun!

My Birthday Wish is to – together – help generate jobs and establish a sustainable future for the Awajun women’s artisan cooperative and their community by making a tax-deductible contribution today.

Funds collected, thus far, have helped purchase computers, solar (more…)

NY Fashion Week 1995.

If I were 22 is a collective theme I was invited to write about on LinkedIn to share my experience and some advice with the class of 2014.

Congratulations to all the 2014 Graduates!

As college graduates enter the work force, they step into their professional lives with enthusiasm and a desire to make a mark in the (more…)

Driving Fashion Forward with Amber Valletta

The first episode of the long awaited documentary “Thread” is here. Amber Valletta speaks with fashion pioneers, including Patagonia, where I was a senior designer from 2003-2008. It is clear why the first episode presents a company that has been at the forefront of the sustainable and socially ethical apparel industry since the early 90′s. The prime reason why I worked there; before embarking on my sustainable design work with Amazon artisans, while continuing to create high-quality handmade clothing. Watch this “Thread” episode and share it!

Amazon Jewelry & ORG by vio at Vivienne Westwood Paris Show

The beautiful original creations of the Awajun & Ashaninka artisans and ORG by vio designs were featured at Vivienne Westwood Gold Label Fall 2014-15 Paris Show via NGO Cool Earth. Jewelry available at www.orgbyvio.com – Supporting Amazon artisans, protecting the rainforest.

This Vivienne Westwood collection is inspired both by the Ashaninka and the Awajun people. It also features some of the designs created by designer Violeta Villacorta for ORG by vio, which works in partnership with Awajun artisans who have made the jewelry worn in Vivienne Westwood fashion show featured here. ORG by vio also sells the Cushma tunics – worn by Vivienne Westwood and her husband Andreas at the end – via partner organization Ecotribal, who directly works with the Ashaninka. We are delighted Vivienne Westwood has featured the Awajun & Ashaninka culture and wears!!

Thank you, for featuring the Amazon artisans’ work, Vivienne Westwood!

Watch larger video here. See photos.

Illustrations Inspired by the Yanesha Painting Technique

Retablo Alta Moda I & II – Illustrations made in the traditional way of the Yanesha people’s drawing technique for textiles and wood. Mixed Media: Black Ink made with Tree Bark dyes, painted with Tamshi stick on two-tone Higuerilla slabs from managed Amazon rainforest wood, with a touch of 22K Gold Leaf. Painted in the Yanesha community, Peruvian Amazon. At Arábica, Larcomar in Lima, Perú. See Illustrations. (more…)

Visit the Press Area for the Latest Coverage

Garb Magazine and HeArt Magazine covered my work this Fall. Browse through the Press page for these and other press. You can also view the digital versions of Garb magazine, and HeArt magazine (pages 82-103) online.

JOIN ME

I’ll be speaking on Sunday, October 20th, in Irvine on Sustainable Design and my work with indigenous Amazon artisans. My talk will also cover how we are all designers of our own lives and the choices we can make to lessen our negative impact on the planet.

November was an eventful month of festivals, trunk shows, new accounts and visiting stores in LA and SF.

Green Festival was great fun and successful, where we sold and showcased ORG by vio’s Amazon artisan eco jewelry worn with Violeta Villacorta eco luxury fashion at the festival’s Eco Fashion Show organized by vegan shoe designer Rebecca Mink. Then we were off to Modern Folk Living in Ojai, CA for a weekend bazaar featuring ORG by vio, where friend Wanda Weller has created an eco lifestyle destination for eco treasures. And finally we made a trip up North to Sonoma, CA in wine country, for an ORG by vio trunk show at Artefact Design Salvage, a stunning Interior Designer’s dream full of exquisite handcrafted furnishings and accessories. Visit Behind the Scenes and Photo Journal for photos.

We are living in amazing times, where the economy, consciousness and the planet are shifting.

Living conscientiously is a holistic matter. It’s about choosing the options that will benefit people and planet. Buying fashion and products that are sustainable are some of the answers. Lowering our consumption, building green, organic urban and local farming, driving more efficient cars, and better yet – cars that can be powered by electricity from the Sun or other clean alternatives, are other things we can do.

For too long we have relied on fossil fuels that have polluted our planet and disrupted peoples livelihoods by contamination and illness. We can no longer leave it to our governments to make the right choices. They have too many interests that impede true change. The shift has to happen with us. Each of our choices makes a difference.

In 2005, I converted my first home, which I sold last year, to fully solar electricity. I cancelled the gas service and outfitted the house with efficient electric appliances. It was exciting to see the meter run backwards! We generated more electricity than we needed every day. The excess electricity that went back to the power grid was rewarded as credit. These days in California, many people whose homes are giving back electricity to the utility companies, are getting paid for the excess electricity their homes produce. Now you get state and federal incentives, as well as paid for generating electricity!

Making the switch is an empowering move that will help save you money and our planet. There are companies like Sungevity, that lease and install  solar electric systems on rooftops with no money down. You are billed monthly at affordable rates, depending on your system. It is the best alternative, so you don’t have to pay for the system upfront. A great alternative to help make the changes that we need to make as a society.

For more on being a part of the shift, get Rooftop Revolution by Danny Kennedy.

The fashion industry, as alluring as it is, with all the beautiful images of health and beauty, is one of the most environmentally taxing and resource intensive industries on the planet.

Thread brings to light the truth about this industry and makes it clear that eco fashion is not a trend, but the way it has to be to continue to produce beautiful fashion with the least negative impact on our planet and human health.

Since 1993, I have been making eco fashion for clients in my own collections and through other companies I have worked for. This commitment extends to my work in partnership with indigenous Amazon artisans to create sustainable rainforest eco jewelry and accessories, as an alternative to the conventional jewelry industry that depends fully on mined metals and stones. The artisans’ beautiful work is made with materials that grow in the soil of the rainforest. Pair Violeta Villacorta‘s eco fashion with a gorgeous Amazon artisan accessory from ORG by vio® for a beautiful and fully earth friendly statement.

One-of-a-kind upcycled leather vest hand embroidered in raffia straw for Jonathan Gwiazda – a supporter of my work with Amazon artisans, modeled by my husband metal artist Dylan Farnham. This beautiful example of upcycling was completed in 30 hours of hand embroidery and delivered at Burning Man Fertility 2.0 2012. After hours of labor, this year’s Burning Man theme was very fitting. I gave birth to this vest on the dusty playa ; )

For those not familiar with Burning Man, it is a festival of radical self-expression and self-reliance filled with art, music and beautiful people in the middle of the desert. A melange of personal taste and unique expression. Everyone is a work of art… from the costumes, to the art and the music.

The Fundraiser is ON! Violeta Villacorta & ORG by vio® invite you to visit our fundraising page to learn more, support our work with indigenous Amazon artisans and receive beautiful, high quality Amazon rewards made by the very artisans you support. Look through all your Reward options, including rewards from our Deep in Forests partners! Contribute any amount as everything helps reach our goal & Share this with your friends and family to reach more people in your circles and around the Globe! We look forward to you being an active part of our work with the talented Amazon artisans we work with. Thank you! Love & Light ♥
Visit indiegogo.com/ORGbyvio