Meet four artisans from the 21st International Folk Art Market

Travel the world without leaving New Mexico at the International Folk Art Market (IFAM) in Santa Fe. The event, now in its 21st year, has become the largest international folk art market in the world.

One hundred and forty-two juried artists, representing 57 countries, will present textiles, jewelry, basketry, ceramics, metalwork, sculpture, leather, glasswork, sustainable fashion and more. Many of the makers will be in attendance, and some will even speak as part of IFAM’s “Insider Talks.” For a full listing of this year’s vendors and events, visit folkartmarket.org.

IFAM is a rigorously juried event, with fewer than 20% of artists selected from the more than 700 who applied. This year’s market includes 40 first-time attendees and a more diverse array of artists than ever before.

Hlengiwe Dube

South Africa

In the late 1960s, Zulu artisans in South Africa got their hands on a new material — the plastic-coated multicolored wires inside of telephone cables — and within a generation, a new art form had emerged: South African telephone wire art.

Some of the most skilled contemporary practitioners of the form come from the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal. A number of them, including Hlengiwe Dube, are featured in the current exhibition at Santa Fe’s Museum of International Folk Art, “iNgqikithi yokuPhica/Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa,” which runs through March 6, 2026. Dube and some of her peers will also present work for sale at IFAM this year.

As a child, Dube learned from her grandmother to weave grass into baskets, using traditional Zulu weaving methods.

“I used to look at what my granny was doing,” Dube said. “And my granny would always say to me, ‘Your hands carry the knowledge of all the women who came before you.’ So, those words have stayed with me throughout my artistic journey.”

In 1989, at the age of 15, Dube began attending workshops on telephone wire craftat the African Art Centre, which were hosted by master weaver Elliot Mkhize.

“You won’t believe it, but we used to get our wires from the scrapyard then,” Dube said. “And the telecom company gave us leftovers that they were no longer using.”

Later, she said, a company began manufacturing wires as an art material and offering them in a wider array of colors.

“Now, you can even give them a piece of fabric and say, ‘Can you produce the wire that will go with this color?’” she said. “So, that makes our life much easier. Especially for me, since I’m communicating and talking with the colors.”

Dube refers to some of her work as “Zulu love letters,” explaining that colors have coded meanings in Zulu culture. Red, for instance, means “I’m in love with you,” and dark blue means “I will cry, as I miss the one I love.”

“I would like to say to people, please visit the Santa Fe fair to see how we communicate with our artwork,” Dube said. “They will learn more about our culture, as well.”

Vamika

India

Juhi Sharma is the founder of Vamika, an organization that has been working with the Kalbelia community of Rajasthan, India, to help revive their quilt-making tradition, known as Gudadi.

“Mothers used to make and give these quilts to their daughters in their dowries,” Sharma said. “In earlier days, they used to sew coins onto the quilts, as well as shells, which were also counted as money.”

Traditionally, the quilts were made from scraps of old fabrics, like shawls and bedsheets. Sharma has reimagined the craft, using locally sourced wool yarn and naturally-dyed, homespun khadi cloth.

“I have seen a lot of brands using polyester synthetic yarns,” Sharma said, “but here at Vamika, you will get the pure cotton khadi and the naturally dyed cotton yarn only.”

The Kalbelia community were originally desert nomads, who, in addition to making Gudadi quilts, were also known for their practice of snake charming. Under an amendment to India’s Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, snake charming was made illegal in India, and enforcement has grown more rigorous in recent years, posing a threat to the livelihood of many Kalbelia families. Sharma said her company is helping to provide a new, sustainable future for the community. But as a tribute to their snake-charming past, many of the artisans incorporate snake motifs into their work.

“The women who are working with me right now hadn’t been working with quilts previously. Before that, they were working as laborers and harvesters. And some of their kids weren’t going to school,” Sharma said. “Now, after working together, their kids started going to private schools, so they’re getting a good education.”

Saragine Marie Georges Valris

Haiti

Haiti is known for its glittering tapestries, made of appliquéd sequins and beads, that communicate personal and spiritual stories. These drapo Vodou, or “Voodoo flags,” originally combined the craft traditions of Catholic vestments and Yoruba beadwork, and generations of Haitian artists have contributed their own innovations.

Saragine Marie Georges Valris, who was born into a family of esteemed drapo artists, is now an emerging drapo star. Her work will be featured at IFAM for the first time this year.

“I started drawing and sewing Voodoo flags around the age of 10,” she said. “I learned it from my parents, Georges Valris, with his style, and my mother (Andrémise Brianvil) with another style: bead crochet.”

Georges Valris is unusual among drapo artists, in that he is a Catholic who does not practice the Vodou religion. But both he and his daughter incorporate West African mythological figures into their work as a way of connecting with their heritage.

“Personally, I see them as protection, as spiritual guidance, just as I see them as (representing) the attraction of positivity in all things, health, and the ancestral recognition of my family and my country,” Saragine Marie Georges Valris said.

Some of her larger flags can take up to three months to complete.

“What seems most difficult is the stuffing, which is rather tiring,” she said. “It tires your back, as well as your hand. But, other than that, it’s great.”

Valris incorporates 3D effects into many of her works.

“I really like innovation in art, especially the 3D style, which is really fun and beautiful,” she said. “Everyone designs in their own way; they have choice and freedom.”

Ocean Sole

Kenya

Ocean Sole is an innovative, socially conscious company from Nairobi, Kenya, which upcycles the washed-up flip-flops from Kenya’s beaches and landfills, turning them into colorful sculptures and children’s toys.

“After the flip-flops are collected and brought to our workshop, they are washed and joined together and made into these wonderful creations,” Joe Mwakiremba, Ocean Sole’s head of sales, said.

The multicolored material is sculpted into animal forms.

“We’ve done life-size elephants, for National Geographic, for example,” Mwakiremba said. “We’ve done a six-meter tall giraffe. We can pretty much make anything.”

He said the company was founded 20 years ago. Not only were Kenya’s beaches littered with thousands upon thousands of flip-flops at that time, but the nation had also scaled back its logging industry, leaving many wood carvers out of work. So, Ocean Sole solved two problems at once: cleaning up the beaches, while providing jobs for woodworkers, who could apply their skills to the medium of foam rubber.

“Like they say, the rest is history. We started partnering with zoos and aquariums and museum gift shops all over the world, mainly in the US,” Mwakiremba said. “Then, we started being invited to global exhibitions.”

Ocean Sole is bringing some large pieces to Santa Fe, including a life-size gorilla and a baby elephant. They will also have many small pieces available. “Perfect for gifts and souvenirs,” Mwakirema said.

The work may be playful, but Ocean Sole is doing serious work. Mwakiremba said the company recycled over 750,000 flip-flops last year and is on track to do a million this year.

“So, the impact,” he said, “is super, super huge.”

International Folk Art Market showcases the best arts and crafts from around the world