Sustaining Cultures is a tax exempt non-profit organization based in Taos, New Mexico. Learn more about our goals to increase awareness and contribute to the persistence of unique cultures around the world through this website or contact us.We work primarily with traditional and indigenous peoples and their cultures in Mexico and Latin America.

Sustaining Cultures

Sustaining Cultures
is a Member of

The Town of Taos has earned designation as a Fair Trade Town. Town Council Members passed a resolution and enacted guidelines to prepare for the coveted designation. Taos is the first Fair Trade Town in New Mexico, the first in the Western United States, and the fifth nationally.

Global Exchange
Cocoa Campaigns

Learn here about the many dimensions of Fair Trade including the certifying organizations, the Fair Trade Towns concept, and the many resources available regarding Fair Trade. Click on the logos below from some of our fair trade partners to get started.

Sustaining Cultures has a retail store in Taos New Mexico on the Historic Taos Plaza. We are located in the Old County Courthouse Mercado on the north side of the Plaza. Look for us there in our new space in the late spring/summer of 2013. We are temporarily closed for the winter.

Our store is staffed by volunteers from UpCycled Fashions and offers a variety of their products as well as fair trade arts and crafts from our trading partners. Our Taos store is a collaboration with a womens' non-profit organization based in northern New Mexico. UpCycled Fashions is part of Art for the Heart. UpCycled provides opportunities for women in northern New Mexico to work in their homes and make new women's, and children's clothing from recycled clothing.

Sustaining Cultures also sells Zapotecan rugs, La Chamba cookware, coffees, and other fair trade items in the summertime at outdoor markets in Summit and Eagle counties in Colorado. Please look for us at the following markets this year:

Vail Farmers Market
and Art Show
Sundays from 10am-3:30pm
June 16th-Sept 22nd
Vail, Colorado




Dillon Farmers Market
Fridays from 9am-2pm
May 31st - September 13th
Dillon, Colorado




Minturn Market
Saturdays from June 29th - September 14th
Minturn, Colorado

Breckenridge Sunday Market
Sundays from June 16th -
September 8th
Breckenridge, Colorado




Frisco Fourth of July
Arts & Crafts Market
July 3-5th, Main Street
Frisco, Colorado

La Chamba Cookware is made from black micaceous clay found only in central Colombia. Archaeologists believe that this region in Colombia is home to the oldest pottery found in the Americas

Learn more about La Chamba and its history.

How to use and care for your La Chamba Cookware.

La Chamba Cookware

Vida Nueva is a cooperative of Zapotecan women from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Zapotecans are one of the two largest groups of indigenous peoples in Oaxaca which has the largest indigenous population in Mexico. Sustaining Cultures works directly with this cooperative helping to support their efforts by marketing their weavings and promoting their endeavors in the U.S. (more)

Our Nicaraguan pottery comes from the Pueblo of San Juan de Oriente where some of the finest decorative pottery in Central America is made. The ceramic tradition in San Juan de Oriente goes back over 500 years to pre-colonial times. This community was so highly regarded for it’s ceramic work that pottery was used to pay taxes to the Spanish government. Today these artisans have achieved national and international recognition following a revival of their traditions through a US based organization called Potters for Peace.

The Yw’rata, or Yurata, is a Huichol community that is in the state of Nayarit. The name Yurata means: that which is growing little by little. The La Yurata community is forming an artisans cooperative. Sustaining Cultures works directly with this cooperative group helping to support their efforts by marketing their yarn paintings and promoting their endeavors in the U.S. (more)

The artisan cooperative Eco-Alebrijes was formed in 2004. It now consists of 18 families from the community of Arrazola just out side of Oaxaca city in southern Mexico and near Monte Alban, a United Nations World Heritage archaeological site. The families number 117 people including children and adults. The cooperative is unique in that they use only sustainably harvested copal wood for their work.

The alebrije figures are carved from green copal, then carefully dried in the sun, and eventually sanded, before being painted with acrylics. Most carving is done by men and most painting is done by women. Each piece has the names of the artisans written on the bottom. This art form originated in Mexico city about 70 years ago using paper mache and has been perfected into copal carving in Oaxaca since then.

SJSU-Ecoalebrijes Intercambio - San Jose State University, California USA