Who are we and what do we do?

“Hacer Común” is an inclusive design center and social impact project in the Oaxacan community of Zimatlan. It seeks to promote the values and growth of the community by connecting local artisans who work collaboratively to develop everyday objects that revalue tradition.

Why do we do it?

We do it to foster new creative talent, to improve income, and to generate new growth opportunities for the integral development of our community.

How do we do it?

We do it with commitment; through a network of professional workshops that are integrated into a sustained and inclusive growth scheme.

Ethos

To "Hacer Común" design is not a privilege; it is a tool of self-knowledge and social transformation; an exploration of our community and of our environment.

Anyone can use design as a tool of expression, and when multiple minds come together, the result is inclusive design and a thriving community.

Purpose

“Hacer Común” exists to promote the values and growth of our community through the collaborative development of everyday objects that revalue tradition.

“Hacer Común” cares for its environment in order to build a better place for everyone. Because of its inclusive nature, it empathises with and recognises its extended community, made up of all the people who interact directly or indirectly with the organisation.

Mtro. Doroteo Ortiz (74 years old), the only “wood turner'' in the community, with whom we preserve the trade and motivate future generations to continue the tradition and the mastery.

Mtro. Santiago López (33 years old), a blacksmith in the community who has worked with metals since he was 15 years old. Today he continues with this profession and shares his knowledge with young people from the community.

Mtro. Carlos Martínez (25 years old), a carpenter in the community who recently opened his own carpentry workshop. Through his work and his talent, he is dedicated to his personal and professional development.

Mtra. Rosario (25 years old), a young artisan who preserves palm weaving techniques and encourages men and women in her community to continue the tradition. Rosario is a leading woman, proud of the knowledge inherited by her grandparents.

Scholarship
Enrique Martínez / Wood Workshop

Scholarship
Carlos Arellano / Design area

Apprentice
Eduardo Martínez / Metal workshop

As a Design Engineer and social entrepreneur, Eduardo has focused his efforts on a proposal for social and inclusive design, based on creative communities and their ways of working, organizing and community principles.

This is the idea from which Hacer Comun was born in 2018. Eduardo wanted an inclusive design project with the ability for social impact in his own community. Hacer Comun connects local creative talent to promote the values and nurture the growth of the community, through the collaborative development of everyday objects that revalue tradition.

During his university training, Eduardo was president of the multidisciplinary student team Enactus, an organization dedicated to promoting the talent of university entrepreneurs. Together they developed and implemented social projects in vulnerable communities in the Mixteca region that were selected to be presented in Beijing, China and Johannesburg, Africa.

In 2017, he was selected as an emerging local designer by the British Council & Oaxifornia program; Crafting Futures Mexico. From 2017 to 2020, he served as Senior Design Director at oaxifornia.org; a collaborative project between artisans, designers and artists, in Oaxaca and San Francisco, California. He is a member of the second generation of young creators of the Instituto Mexicano de la Juventud. In 2019, he was selected by the US State Department to participate, along with 280 young entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs from 37 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada, in the program; Young Leaders of the Americas (YLAI). In 2020 he was selected by the British Council and Fundación Azteca as a community leader to join the Active Citizens program globally. He is currently part of the core team of OpenIDEO Chapter in Oaxaca; a global community that creates solutions to the most difficult problems of the world driven by design thinking.

Thank you to the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) program for all the opportunities for growth and learning during the different stages of the program.

Thank you Ecocity builders for believing in us and supporting us in developing our website.

Thank you Vvorkroom for selecting us within your pro bono program to work together on a strategy and a brand for “Hacer Comun”.

See case study: to go

Thank you Volar en V for selecting us within your pro bono program to work together on our flight guide.

See case study: to go