Marcella Echavarría

Marcella epitomizes the fusion of branding expertise and curation, weaving intricate connections between designers, artisans, and global trends. Her mastery lies in crafting luxury and sustainability into a cohesive brand narrative that not only preserves but celebrates cultures and traditions. With a rich portfolio of consulting engagements for prestigious organizations like the European Union, United Nations, UNESCO, and USAID; as well as organizations and private clients, Marcella has become a beacon for innovative branding strategies that transcend borders.

Marcella's passion for design finds expression in Noir, a project that seamlessly merges her reverence for mud silk—a heritage textile steeped in 2,500 years of history—with her forward-looking vision for the fashion industry. Embracing principles of quality, craftsmanship, and slowness, Noir embodies ancestral geometrical shapes while honoring the artisans who bring each creation to life.

In 2018, Marcella co-founded XTANT with Kavita Parmar. Together, they champion heritage textile communities worldwide, showcasing their creations at the annual XTANT textile festival and market held on the vibrant island of Mallorca every May.

@marcellaechavarria

Manuela Mejia

Manuela Mejia is a musician, singer and composer who creates healing sounds for the soul. Her music is a mix of mantra, sacred chants from different cultures and heartwarming melodies that connect people with their roots, opening their memories and inspiring a longing to embrace the love that we are. She is a leading figure in the genre of Medicine & Mantra Music in Colombia and Latin America. Manuela has studied in the United States and India with different masters, investigating the science behind the “yoga of sound” and other mantras, and she leads retreats around the world. She has also written music for films and TV series for Disney, MTV, Nickelodeon, Discovery Channel, and more. Her new album “Árbol de la Vida” is a compilation of 9 ancestral songs from different cultures: the Amazon, India, Mexico and Yoruba, among others, aiming to bring peace and calm to the heart. It was mixed in ATMOS to immerse people in the journey of music, bringing the power of sound to healing and connecting. The album opens and closes with a healing sound journey, that utilises sound therapy technology, composed with specific frequencies that can lead people on a journey of deep meditation, relaxation and introspection.

www.manuelamejia.com

Ana González Rojas

After graduating from architecture at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Ana specialized in Art and Gender at Trinity College in Dublin before completing a Master's in Arts and Media in Paris, focusing on photography, printing and publishing. Her work is included in several private and public collections, including the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, the Havremagasinet Länskonsthall Museum in Sweden, the National Museum of Colombia and the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO). In addition, Ana has developed several social projects with the Colombian indigenous communities of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and humanitarian projects with the Nukak community in Guaviare and the Misak women in Cauca. She is currently working on the construction of a traditional house with the Tikuna women of the Colombian Amazon.

@anagonzalezrojas

Rosana Escobar

Working as a bridge between disciplines, as a biologist and textile designer, Rosana traces materials back to their ecosystem to explore the interwoven relations between materials, people and the landscape. Working across countries from Colombia to the Netherlands, she comes in touch with the farm and local crafts, as well as the global market and industry, exploring new opportunities for materials to be transformed, reclaiming their value and proposing future scenarios. For one of her ongoing projects, she focused on the material transformation of an Agave fiber, originally from Colombia but also available in Europe as a by-product of the coffee industry. 

@escobaryrosas

Gloria Saldarriaga

Gloria Saldarriaga is a graphic designer by profession, a collector by conviction and an art and fashion advisor by vocation. She is recognized as a great promoter of conceptual art in Colombia: firstly, for her management as co-founder of the Alcuadrado Gallery—a pioneer in the internationalization of local art—and secondly, for her commitment as an art collector. She is the author of the book "Simple Chic," a style glossary for women who know how to enjoy life, where she shares her unconventional vision of art, fashion and good living. Gloria Saldarriaga is the editor of the publication "Manifiesto Cuatro," which focuses on circular fashion. She believes in the powerful impact that transforming everyday objects can have and advocates for circular fashion as a means of achieving this transformation.

@gloriasald

Catherine Dunga

Catherine Dunga is a Belgian Congolese Cultural activist who has lived in Colombia since 2004. She trained as a physiotherapist with a maxillofacial specialization in the first part of her professional life. In 2018 she changed course and became the co-founder of Kitambo, an organization whose mission is to strengthen collaborations between Colombia and countries on the African continent through artistic, cultural and socio-educational projects with a South/South focus, among which The Atlas exhibition stands out  (2021—2023). Touring Mali and Colombia, it provided a crossing of views, and dialogue between the Malian photographer Fatoumata Diabaté and four photographers from the Colombian Pacific, Julieth Morales, Lyann Quartas, El Murcy and Yeison Riasco. The project was carried out at the Cali Cultural Center during the XXV Petronio Álvarez Festival, and within the framework of the HAY Festival in Cartagena. Catherine has also worked on an adaptation of Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute," with Colombian tumbao and African heritage, and the unprecedented participation of the Belgian-Congolese countertenor Serge Kakudji and Colombian talents staged at the Teatro Colón in Bogotá. "At Work: Who is the stranger in me?” was produced in collaboration with the Moleskine Foundation, a critical thinking workshop directed by the Swiss Cameroonian curator Simon Njami. More recently, she participated as guest co-editor for the cultural magazine "El Malpensante" in its special edition on Africa.

@kitambo.co

Danielle Lafaurie

Danielle Lafaurie was born immersed in the fashion world that she inherited from her mother Olga Piedrahita. She studied industrial design at the “Universidad de los Andes”, and her natural inclination towards creativity and multiple disciplines also led her to look into the world of literature. After living in India for a couple of years, she returned to Colombia in 2007 to work at Olga Piedrahita’s Atelier, from where she launched her action platform: the design and production of creative projects centered around fashion, photography and jewelry. Working as a creative director or producer, and sometimes as a designer, she explores Colombian and Latin-American handicrafts, creating glocal pieces. Step by step, project by project, working in a team and with fantasy as her guide, she continues to create evermore imaginaries through more creative languages that allow for new encounters.

@daniellelafaurie

Alejandra Salamanca

Alejandra Salamanca is an anthropologist with a Master in the Anthropology of Food from SOAS University of London. She has worked for more than nine years in the creation of participatory methodologies, community projects and associative strategies, focusing on food heritage, gender and biodiversity. She is currently the director of the Leonor Espinosa Foundation, FUNLEO, and a professor at the Universidad del Rosario. Alejandra has been involved in the creation of participatory research initiatives in New York and London with organizations such as Migrateful and Los Herederos. She facilitates food sovereignty and agro-ecology processes with migrant populations, Indigenous peoples, and Black communities in Colombia and the United Kingdom. She is also the co-founder of Casa Múcura and its current project director. Alejandra is a columnist for several alternative media titles and the author of "Abrazar la Tierra: Memorias Colectivas de la Cocina Ancestral de Coquí," (2022), which won the Best African American Cookbook award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2023, and "Sucre Sabe Diferente,” (2023). Both book projects explore the intersections between identity, heritage, food and ecology.

Lidewij Edelkoort

Co-Founder World Hope Forum

Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, publisher, humanitarian, design educator and exhibition curator. From 2015-2020 she was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons in New York where she founded a Textile Masters and the New York Textile Month festival. Her thought-provoking writings and podcasts have become increasingly popular at a time when she is regarded as an activist and champion for change. In 2020, she founded the World Hope Forum as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society. She is also on the Creative Council for all of Gap Inc.’s fashion brands, advising the group on creative innovation and sustainable practice. In 2022, Edelkoort collaborated with Polimoda in Florence to establish an innovative new textile masters called From Farm to Fabric to Fashion.

@lidewijedelkoort

Philip Fimmano

Co-Founder World Hope Forum

Philip Fimmano is a trend analyst and consultant, contributing to Trend Union’s forecasting books, magazines and strategic studies for international companies in fashion, textiles, interiors and lifestyle. In 2011, Fimmano co-founded Talking Textiles with Li Edelkoort; an ongoing initiative to promote awareness and innovation in textiles through touring exhibitions, a trend publication, a design prize and free educational programmes – including New York Textile Month, a citywide festival celebrating textile creativity each September. He is the co-author of the design book A Labour of Love (Lecturis, 2020) and the co-founder of the World Hope Forum, a new platform for creative community building. Fimmano is the mentor of Polimoda's fashion forecasting masters and textile masters in Florence, and he is on the Board of Directors for the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe. Fimmano is also on the Creative Council for all of Gap Inc.’s brands, advising the group on innovation and sustainable practice.

@philipfimmano