The craft of beauty: Colombian crafts and design in Cartagena

The first guide followed the shops through a day. This one follows something else: the hands. The ones that raised the wall stone by stone, the ones that carved an entire bullring out of wood, the ones that still weave in La Guajira, braid cane in the Sinú valley and draw silver in Mompox until it becomes lace. You can shop for Cartagena in luxury boutiques, yes, but what you really take home is the craft of an entire country.

I · The wall

Las Bóvedas, from barracks to workshop

At the northern end of the walled city, between the Santa Catalina and Santa Clara bastions, twenty-three vaults line up beneath a long yellow arcade. They were built at the end of the eighteenth century, in the last great effort to armour the city, bearing the mark of the engineer Antonio de Arévalo: bomb-proof walls to store gunpowder, supplies and troops. During the wars of independence and much of the nineteenth century they became a prison, and it is said that at high tide the sea seeped into the cells of the political prisoners.

Today each vault is a craft shop. It is the most touristy stop in this guide, and you need a good eye: among the mass-produced souvenirs there are hammocks, mochila bags and carvings worth the trip. The greater reward is the place itself, with the sea breeze coming through the arches as the sun goes down.

Take home a woven hammock or a mochila, after looking through several vaults.

What you really take home from Cartagena is the craft of an entire country.

II · The wooden ring

La Serrezuela, where the bullring roared

For much of the twentieth century, Cartagena had a bullring made entirely of wood, with stands, balconies and carved railings that looked more like a theatre than an arena. When the bullfights ended it became a circus and a stage for Caribbean music festivals; in 1995 it was declared a National Monument, and still it was nearly lost. After years of work it was restored with its wooden structure intact, and today, beneath those same stands, it houses one of the most beautiful shopping centres in the country.

Malva

Colombia's first luxury department store with a Latin American accent opened here, at La Serrezuela, in 2019. Under one roof it gathers the designers shaping the region's fashion, with names like Johanna Ortiz, Agua Bendita, Andrés Pajón and Mercedes Salazar's jewellery, alongside new labels that are still hard to find elsewhere.

From Cartagena it spread to Bogotá, Barranquilla, Lima and Panama City, but the original house is still this one.

Take home a piece by a Colombian designer you didn't know yet.

Le Collezioni

For years Le Collezioni was the home of international luxury in Cartagena, in the walled city's old Estanco del Tabaco, the colonial tobacco house. Today it is at La Serrezuela, with labels such as Ferragamo, Tod's, Santoni, Paul Smith, Hackett and Furla.

It's the stop for what isn't made in Colombia: the Italian loafer, the English shirt, the bag that stays with you for years.

Take home a pair of loafers for summer nights.

III · The Caribbean on the skin

Two labels that dressed the heat

There is a Colombian way of dressing for the tropics: fabrics that move with the breeze, colours unafraid of the sun, pieces made by hand in women's workshops. These two labels took it far, and both have a home in the old city.

Beatriz Camacho

She was born in Cartagena in 1966 and, although her atelier is in Barranquilla, she opened her first boutique in her home city, on Calle de la Inquisición. Cartagena appears again and again in her work: full, airy dresses, floating sleeves, an ethereal femininity made for walking slowly in the sun.

The street could hardly be more symbolic. A few steps away stands the Palace of the Inquisition, where for two centuries those who dared to be different were put on trial; today the same street sells freedom in the form of a dress.

Take home a long, light dress for sunset on the wall.

Agua Bendita

Catalina Álvarez and Mariana Hinestroza founded it in Medellín in 2003, while still design students, sewing bikinis from fabric scraps. Today its swimwear is made by hand by hundreds of Colombian women artisans and sold around the world.

Its shop in the old city is one of its flagships, and the brand also has a luxury line, Agua by Agua Bendita.

Take home a handmade swimsuit for a day on the islands.

IV · The hands of Colombia

Artesanías de Colombia

If there is one shop where the whole country fits, it is this one. Artesanías de Colombia is the national company that works with artisans from every region, and its shop in the old city brings together the best of their crafts with the guarantee that every piece is genuine.

Here are the Wayuu mochilas, which, according to La Guajira tradition, were taught by Wale'kerü, a spider who wove sashes of a thousand designs by night. Here is the sombrero vueltiao, braided from caña flecha by the Zenú people of the Sinú and made a cultural symbol of the nation. And here is Mompox filigree, threads of silver so fine the jewellery looks like lace. Every object carries its region, its people and its story.

Take home a sombrero vueltiao with many turns, or a pair of Mompox filigree earrings.

Epilogue

The other half of the guide

This is the second part of a journey. The first, The city of beautiful things, follows a day through the old city's design shops: St Dom, Johanna Ortiz, Silvia Tcherassi, Casa Chiqui and more. In between, the best plan is to sit down at the table: an aperitivo at La Domenica, fire at Kanibal, and the long night at SLVJ.