MAZ Manuela Álvarez

MAZ is Manuela Álvarez, a Bogotá-based fashion designer with international recognition. She takes familiar, recognisable silhouettes - coats, blazers, shirts, trousers - and reimagines them in both form and substance. Long trench coats get asymmetric lapels and pleated sleeves. Shirts come out with wing collars or capes. Voluminous sweaters are hand-knitted with oversized cables and spikes. Baggy trousers come with leather fringe or inserts, skirts are woven from leather cords.

The thing is, every one of these details grows not from nowhere, but from a traditional artisan technique - weaving, macramé, embroidery, leatherwork. Manuela develops these techniques together with their bearers - master craftspeople from indigenous communities in Colombia. Most of the pieces are made by their hands.

Timeless silhouettes, original textiles, and the skill and intricacy of execution make each MAZ piece one of a kind - with every reason to become a family heirloom.

The MAZ Gallery flagship is in El Retiro - one of Bogotá's most exclusive neighbourhoods, with boutiques, restaurants and galleries. A minute's walk away is the Andino shopping centre, where two Colombian jewellery brands are worth a visit: Mercedes Salazar and Joyería Cano.

And by the way, MAZ Gallery shares its space with Del Portillo - a signature brand of handcrafted furniture and home décor. Together they make something of a Colombian design showroom: one dresses the person, the other furnishes the home.