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Bazar La Pasion

Carolina Arias is the designer at Bazar La Pasion in Valparaiso, Chile. A charming store bursting with creativity and local emerging designers work. Arias produces a womenswear collection on an ad hoc basis focused on sustainable design and upcycling for sale at the store. A reflection of the city itself, Arias uses retired domestic textiles such as curtains and tapestries, from the many, beautiful, old mansions dotted on the hills of Valparaiso.

The latest collection from Arias and Bazar La Pasion is entitled Tara, harking back to the infamous Tara of Gone With the Wind, making parallels to the city’s colonial past, and the grandeur of an age gone by. The historic mansions of this old sea port are a reflection of the important geopolitical role it played in the second half of the 19th century, when the city was a major stopover for Transatlantic and Pacific ocean crossings. Known as Little San Francisco, the city was considered the Jewel of the Pacific. Always a magnet for European immigrants, the historic architecture spans centuries of majestic styles, as does the interior design, including of course the curtains and other interior textiles, which Arias so cleverly reimagines. Designs are sleek and sophisticated, a tad demure and with a romance and retro sensibility that pays homage to the textiles past. Referencing the original textile use, many designs are bound by cords and decorated with tassels and curtain drape trimmings.

Website: www.bazarlapasion.cl