Nowadays there are plenty of celebrities and other famous people with an entire nature and animal awareness. They claim through their social networks the importance of not shopping but adopting a pet!   A significant number of them post almost every week a picture of the beloved member of the family. As an example we can find on the Instagram of the singer Miley Cyrus, the multiple images of her entire adopted pets or also the Australian Shepherd dog that the actress Amanda Segfried rescued:

There are a lot of animal shelters all around the world, that takes care of abandoned or bad-treated dogs and cats. In Ecuador for example we have the “Rescate Animal”, “Arca”, “PAE” or “Fada” foundations, where many volunteers move heaven and earth to obtain collaborations and donations.

Last year in Ecuador we have an event that moved every one of us in multiple ways! The earthquake of the 16th April, leave not only many losses and damages , but also a lot of pets without protection.  The Rescate animal´s foundation started a campaign to give all this loving pets a new home!

Ecua-Andino released four years ago, an entire collection focused on them; the name was “Pet Art collection” and was dedicated to all this beloved members of the family who takes care of ourselves and give us their company 24/ 7 hours a day!  The company was aware of the importance of adopting, so they started last year an alliance with this foundation, where every person who adopts immediately received one hand painted hat. That stimulated many to not only gain a brand new hat, but also to keep this beautiful memory of connecting visually their pet with an accessory in their heads!

In this month the foundation made a special work day for any people who wanted to adopt . They received one iconic Ecuadorian hat!

The experience was really marvelous and it was pretty relaxing and calming to see a lot of dogs moving freely by the place.

credits: Simpol ei

The people who are really close to me know that I started to read influenced by my grandpa’s figure. He had a very big library where I could take any book! During my childhood and adolescence I also received a lot of books with a special signature “para la chinita lectora (for the Chinese reader)” When I graduated of the school I knew that all I wanted was to study something related with the words and fictional worlds.

Last year my father showed me the beautiful song “Mariposa Azul” of one youngest Ecuadorian singer and composer based in New York City named Luz Pinos. In her early years, Luz grew up exposed to a lot of South American pop and traditional music. Since the age of 3 she was singing and dancing to every song she ever heard. She followed her passion and graduated as a contemporary dancer in Guayaquil, Ecuador then decided to move to NYC and persue her carreer as a profesional singer. After finishing her degree in Jazz and Contemporary Music Luz found her own original sound and way of turning her personal stories into, compositions influenced by Ecuadorian and South American rhythms. ( taken from: http://luzpinos.com/)

When her grandpa passed away she decided to made this beautiful song about him, the moment I heard the song it I was immediately touched by her softly voice and the meaning behind every word of the lyric. Later we had a meeting with Luz and then started the collaboration between Ecua-Andino and she, the resolution was that for every special people she knows she will gave them a marvelous hat with a painted blue butterfly on it.

She presented her last single “Mozo” in Guayaquil and was a totally success, you can see here pictures of the event and a recompilation of her entire presentation. I attended her intimate concert and the connection between Luz and the audience was pretty magic! I´m sure she is a totally rising star!

Luz and I posing for the picture

We can all recognize the classic outline  of a Panama Hat. In fact, it might be the only hat model with the natural/beige color and shape completely sticked on our mind…but what happens when we decide to take this singular hat and make an entire change with it?

In 2013, Ecua-Andino organized during a whole week few events that promoted artistic activities around our iconic hat, the event was named “Sombrero-Arte” and took place in our Central Arts Theatre. The main purpose of this gathering was to showcase our cultural heritage and artistic background.

Here is a quote from Carole and Nigel, journalists from the legendary English Hat Magazine:

”The evening brought together a rare combination of talents, and the hats decorated and worn by the audience far exceeded the expectations of the judging panel. Eventually six finalist were chosen, and from these a winner! The programme of song, poetry and music, combined to make this a unique evening of friendship and cultural artistry, based on a heritage”

There are so many possibilities for your inner expression, and you do not need to be the greatest painter on earth or the next Van Gogh. Everyone has a lot of or a little bit of creativity, so why don’t you try it out…use some art materials, choose a Panama Hat and start to decorate it?

Soon I will be posting a picture of my very own one!

Keep in touch!

Andrea Lecaro