5 day virtual course with lifestyle specialist Marcella Echavarria and Selvedge Magazine founder Polly Leonard. 

This one-week e-course is specially designed for artisan brands working with handmade textiles, who are finding ways to tell their story and sell their products during and after COVID. You will learn how to create a strong, simple, and compelling brand. This course will equip you with tools and assets needed to create, enhance and communicate your unique brand, promote it and sell products to an international market, as well as cover digital story telling and social media. The focus is on small businesses that have artisanship and sustainability at their heart.

Marcella Echavarria has 25 years of hands-on, first-hand experience in starting businesses, establishing bridges between cultures and people and integrating sustainability and profitability. She founded SURevolution in 2005, one of the first global brands to link the world of luxury with the handmade.  In 2010 she started her consulting firm focused on branding and creative communication. She holds a bachelor from Brown University, a masters in sustainable development from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and a career in the publishing world as editor of magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Hand Eye and contributor to many others such as Selvedge, Vogue, House and Leisure, Trend Tablet and Wall Paper, among many others.Her clients include individual creators, artisanal brands, textile related brands, retail concepts, and travel companies, among others. She has led consulting projects for The United Nations (UN), Unesco, USAID, Technoserve, The International Finance Corporation (IFC), The Organization of American States (OAS), Porticus Foundation, The Governments of Colombia, Chile, Cambodia, México, Perú, and Swaziland.

Find out more about Marcella at www.marcellaechavarria.com

Polly Leonard is the Founder of Selvedge, an internationally renowned textile magazine that was launched in 2003. From its modest beginning as a one-off publication created in Polly’s front room, the magazine revolutionised the way textiles are presented and quickly became the world’s leading textile publication. It now has a readership of over 75,000 and a dedicated international following. As well as a magazine, Polly has since launched an online and bricks and mortar shop, seasonal artisan fairs and creative collaborations with the likes of Liberty, Anthropologie, The National Trust and the V&A. Polly has a specialist knowledge in all aspects of textiles, with particular interest in the role textiles has played in the evolution of humanity. Her own textile practice encompasses using weaving embroidery and basketry techniques to produce none functional sculptural forms. She has taught and lectured around the world from high school to adults. Selvedge combines her passions for social history, fine art and craft.

Find out more about Polly at www.selvedge.org/pages/about-us