About us

Hi, I'm Elena Brook-Hart Rodriguez, founder of Handmade Stories, and I'd like to tell you how this all came about.

I went to Peru in early 2020 after working in the advertising industry in London creating strategies for big brands. I'd been struggling with my mental health for a while and decided it was time to take some time for myself to decide what to do next. So I signed up to a volunteering programme and off I went!

Then the pandemic hit and the organisation closed operations and told us all to go home. But I was there thinking: what are we doing here then if we’re only here to help during the “fun” times? What’s going to happen to the people we're helping now things are about to get even tougher?

So I decided to stay and start what's now known as Handmade Stories.

It's been a hell of a ride! But so far I've helped women in rural communities get their feet on the business ladder, a family of jewellers re-open their workshop, and given jobs to men in prison whose families were struggling. Although I started in Peru, my dream is that with time I can improve the lives of people in many other places.

Our mission is simple: to help communities underserved by society have a better future.

We work with artisans and women in rural communities in the Andes who don't have access to conventional jobs so they can have a source of income that's fair.

Thanks to them, we now make beautiful, quality clothing and jewellery using traditional Andean techniques, so each piece is unique and has an extraordinary story behind it: the story of the person that made it and its traditional significance.

In Peruvian prisons, inmates can learn trades, such as creating traditional textiles through a programme called Productive Prisons. This allows them to earn money and gives them a purpose. They're also encouraged to set up their own businesses. The programme ensures they have a trade when they leave. The men set the prices for their products. We don't haggle.