CcImports.com
Title
Peruvian Handicrafts (Hand Crafted Folk Art From Peru)
Description
Spring, 1985, Marge and Jim Choquette, owners of Clean Sweep (a janitorial company), were approached by Juan "C", a Peruvian architect by training, and a political exile by necessity. Juan was in hiding for something he had either said or done to someone high in the Peruvian government, which at that time was a ruthless military dictatorship. In any regard, Juan was not able to practice his profession in the United States because of licensing requirements, and, in order to make a living, worked as a janitor for Clean Sweep. He wanted to import handicrafts from his home country. He was afraid, however, to put his name on the required documents. He needed someone to front for him. Thus, a partnership was established, 'C' (for Choquette) /'C' (for Juan "C") Imports. As initially envisioned, Juan was eventually to be the Peruvian Purchasing Agent, while Marge and Jim would handle sales in the United States. We never really did find out what Juan's Peruvian problem was, but it must have been rather serious! When Juan eventually returned to Peru with his family, he promptly disappeared. He has never been heard from again.
Austin is not only a very beautiful little city, it is also the home of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Latin American Studies, The University of Texas. The only reason this is mentioned is that its library contains the largest collection of Latin American books in the United States. For the first few months after the formation of C/C Imports, Jim spent ten hours a day researching Peru and Peruvian handicrafts. These efforts are the basis for the stories found scattered throughout our web site, as well as the story cards which accompany each piece of our pottery.
C/C Imports was initially envisioned to be a wholesale only firm importing hand crafted items from Peru. For the first ten years, we would load our truck with our free standing booth and product samples and travel the wholesale trade route. This took us from Dallas to Chicago, Los Angeles to New York, and many cities in between. One of the first things you would see when you entered our show room, would be our "brag wall". Here we display the many awards our booth has won over the years. We are very proud of the fact that our show booth won "Best of Show" awards at least once from every show we attended.
Contact
- CC Imports
-
- Austin TX
- US 78722
-
- 2309
