Ten years of DAR, as told by Forbes Peru

On how DAR started. We began ten years ago in 2016 as a textile business, white-labeling crochet bags for a high-end international client. In that first chapter, we worked with roughly 350 female artisans across Peru, learning to coordinate workshops, standardize production for export, and translate between traditional technique and contemporary design. An unexpected layer to making that all flow well was a hands-on layer of empowerment, of confidence building, of enabling rural craftswomen to trust themselves to ask questions when they weren’y sure and to value their work through internal management of their quality standards.

On the pivot to stone. Before the pandemic, we started shifting. We had begun working with a wider range of textile brands, however we also wanted to be able to carve our own path and not exclusively focus on another brand’s plans or markets. Mauricio had been working with the stone carvers since before we started DAR, and the Pacasmayo community of stone carvers were highly skilled and without relevant work. And so we didn't propose souvenirs or sculptures. We proposed objects. Objects to hold and play with. Though we launched just before in August 2019, the lockdowns gave the first collection its moment. People wanted something to do with their hands that didn’t involve a screen. And as it turned out, our playful objects had arrived at just the right time. MoMA Design Store and Nordstrom were among the first to see their potential and say yes, and puzzle lovers like Art of Play has continued to be a core partner of the brand.

Where to find DAR. Our gemstone puzzles and playful design objects are available through select retail partners, including Nordstrom and Art of Play. You can also explore the full collection in our online store.

On the artisan context. One point in the article that particularly resonated with us: Pacasmayo’s traditional stone offerings, sculptures and souvenirs, have faced increasing price pressure from international imports, particularly from China and India. Rather than compete on price in a crowded category, we proposed working with the community to transform Andean stones into functional and playful objects, with design as the differentiator. That’s the premise the whole studio operates on.

On the supply chain. DAR works with five artisanal workshops in Pacasmayo. Though workshops are independent, increasingly we support the workflow by investing in stone directly from mining suppliers in three to four ton quantities, which lets us stabilize wholesale pricing, stockpile against rainy season disruptions and El Niño, and distribute material to the workshops at predictable cost. Through this model we’ve also been able to support the formalization of suppliers and artisans, and finance the tools, machinery, and infrastructure (even access to water!) that production requires. This part of the work is less visible than the finished objects, but it’s where everything we create truly begins.

On the Peru chapter. This is the part of the piece we’re most interested in developing this year. Until now, DAR has sold in various locations across Peru but never with an established local channel. That began to change this local interest grew, and our pieces now available at the Lima Art Museum (MALI) and at select locations in Cusco and Lima. We feel it’s now the right time to formalize the logistics in Peru to have a stronger presence in our home market.

On what Forbes called the core. The piece quotes Jenny on the design question: “Our passion is design, creating things that are genuinely fun, which you can see in details like the handle of a chest, perhaps crafted as a sphere of translucent stone. It’s about the pleasure of using a product and finding enjoyment in your daily life, in those small, everyday rituals.” We stand by that framing. The stone is the material. The design is the medium!

Our thanks to Natalia Vera and the Forbes Peru team for the care they took with the story. And our thanks, as always, to the artisan communities in Pacasmayo who continue to make this work real.