Responsibility - Our Mission & Purpose

OUR MISSION & PURPOSE

Feel the earth

We’ve had a single mission from the start: to support as many artisans in Argentina as possible, and work directly with them—no middlemen—to ethically produce high-quality and long-lasting homewares and textiles using noble and sustainable materials.

We define “ethical working” in our case as artisans working in their own environments in rural Argentina and getting a fair payment, which is above the average wage received by people in their region who are undertaking similar work. We have cultivated a relationship over years, based on trust and mutual respect, that we are proud of. In staying in their communities they are helping to preserve their culture, their heritage, the art of craftsmanship and their way of life. Typically, when they migrate to big cities, they cannot continue with this kind of work sustainably and it often leads to a loss of skills, traditional knowledge and feelings of displacement.

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Led by our values

Pampa is founded by Victoria Aguirre and Carl Wilson: two photographers — one from Argentina, the other from Australia —  who share two worlds, two visions and two cultures.

In 2013, Pampa launched our first project, partnering with artisan groups in Argentina to source one-of-a-kind rugs woven by artisans in their homes. From small beginnings, our range has expanded to include homewares by artisans all over Argentina and in other parts of South America — all ethically handcrafted and traded fairly through direct artisan partnerships.

Alongside our textiles, we launched Pampa Prints, a collection of original photography by Pampa’s co-founders, taken on their travels throughout diverse landscapes. These Fine Art Prints seek to inspire a connection with nature and to unite different parts of the world through a shared visual language. We always find so much inspiration when travelling through these remote areas and visiting our artisan partners. We photograph our collections in the locations that they come from, as we feel that there is no better place in which to portray them. Our rugs, textiles, soft furnishings and objects also celebrate their provenance; each of our rugs have unique variations in grain and colour profile, a marker of its origins and a signature of the weaver by whom it was woven.

We are often asked where we find our inspiration, and the answer is in these photographs. We come back to them time and time again as a reference, grateful that nature, our beautiful Pachamama (Mother Earth) feeds us the constant inspiration that we need to build our business and share with our community.

In 2015, Victoria’s brother, Manuel Aguirre, joined the business managing production in Argentina. As our operations grew and we began to work with new communities further afield, he became our Latin America Director.

In 2023, our 10th year of business, we became a Certified B Corporation™️. The process has encouraged us to be even more ambitious in our social and environmental impact strategy and to hold to our core values: Explore, Preserve, Empower.