Firefly
The workshop in Guatemala provides employment and training in comfortable working conditions and fair wages to the indigenous people of Santiago Atitlan.
The workshop employs skilled artisans, both men and women. The indigenous people of the village are very skilled in their traditional arts; the women weave on the backstrap loom and are skilled in embroidery, the men weave on foot looms and are skilled in making fishing nets. We have taken many of the traditional skills and transformed them into jewelry making skills. The workshop is spacious and filled with skylights and windows; every artisan has their own worktable and light. It is built around a plant and flower filled courtyard, with the ever-vigilant Labs; Choco, and Latte, to greet the workers and roam the gardens.
Edward Rudnicki, the founder and owner of the business, is working to extend the business to the next generation and to handover the business to the Guatemalan family who helped start and nurture the endeavor to fruition. The Chavajay brothers; Salvador and Juan Carlos, are currently working in the Oakland office and are in transition to assume responsibility and ownership of Firefly in the future.