Step into the world of Film with Treana Peake

In this edition, Treana reflects on her first step into filmmaking—an extension of her long-standing commitment to documenting the lives, traditions, and creative practices of the artisans we work with. The films, set to be released later this year, mark a new chapter in how these stories are shared.

Over the years, a large part of my life has been spent in the field, traveling through rural regions in many different parts of the world.

When I travel for Obakki, I’m rarely in hotels. I’m in small villages, in people’s homes, at kitchen tables, in workshops, in courtyards, sometimes sleeping on dirt floors. I’ve shared meals, listened to family histories, and spent long days watching hands repeat movements learned decades earlier.

That kind of access is something I don’t take lightly.

The relationships we’ve built over time have allowed me to know people whose lives are far more complex and meaningful than the objects they create. Many of the artisans I work with are elders — deeply respected in their communities, sometimes the last of their generation still practicing a particular technique.

Over time, I began to feel a responsibility to document that knowledge and those lives in a more permanent way. Not as content. Not as promotion. But as record - something meaningful for them and their communities.

Their stories deserved to be documented — as a way to preserve who they are, how they think, what they believe, and what their craft means within the context of their lives.

So I started bringing a film crew.

The original intention wasn’t to build a film division. It was to create a record. Something for their families. Something for their communities. Something that would remain long after product cycles and business priorities have shifted.

That decision became the beginning of Obakki Films.

This documentary follows José García, an 80-year-old blind potter from Oaxaca who has always believed in mermaids. Long before he lost his sight, José grew up hearing his mother’s stories about the most beautiful women in the world living beneath the sea. Those stories stayed with him for a lifetime, quietly weaving themselves into his work and into his love for his wife, Teresita.

In the wake of unimaginable loss, they return to their looms, finding comfort in the familiar rhythm of their craft. Thread by thread, they begin the quiet work of piecing their lives back together. In the face of devastation, the loom becomes more than a tool. It becomes a place of healing, memory, and renewal.

What stays with me most is how much of the knowledge lives quietly. It isn’t written down or archived. It exists in memory, in repetition, in the body. And once it’s gone, it’s gone. These films honour and extend the stories, craft, and cultural traditions of these artisans—ensuring they are not lost, but carried forward. The films will be released later this year.

— Treana Peake