A united family will never be defeated. This seems to be the motto of the Betancourts, an example of business in La Chamba. They have perfected the manufacturing processes of their products to a degree that they are the only artisans from town who export directly. So, if you ever come across a black clay beauty in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, or Canada, it may belong to the Betancourt brand. Astrid is the youngest of her six siblings, and she is the heiress to the knowledge of her parents, Ana Beatriz García and José Noel Betancourt. And, in spite of her tremendous youth, she is the visible of this family business: she is the business manager and a natural leader.

Clay is in her veins, and the torrent shows. She recounts her childhood joyfully among plates, jars, and pots. There is not a single memory that is not marked by the notion that they always worked very hard in their home. When they were not crafting their artisanal wares, they were selling them. She is happy of having been able to see most of Colombia for that reason. Today, the clan’s hands have been renewed, but they have become completely specialized: Astrid manages the business and markets the wares; her sisters, Liliana, Digela, and Jazmín, are in charge of designing and of doing the finishes; her husband and brothers-in-law, Pedro, Rodrigo, and Jaime, carry out the packaging process; and her brother-in-law Jaime handles the ovens. They were the first ones to bake the clay using natural gas, and, years after starting to do this and having seen the results, they gave their oven designs to the community. Thanks to them, seven ovens were donated to La Chamba.

It all started with her grandparents, who offered their products in different markets along the banks of the Magdalena River. They used to stop with special diligence in Girardot and in El Espinal. Afterwards, they would start travelling to new destinations with her father: in January, Cartagena; in May and September, Bucaramanga and Ibagué; in June, Cali, Santamarta, Barranquilla; Cúcuta at year-end; and Popayán during Holy Week. This kept going “until the earthquake happened in the eighties, and then my father did not want to return,” she remembers. Her memories of those times are intense and of unrestrained work. Nonetheless, she also made many friendships in that time: the children of craftspeople who, just like them, arrived at artisanal fairs from different places in the country where their parents sold their wares. They would become the friends of the start of her life and the promise of reunion and trips the following year.

Talking about La Chamba makes her passionate. She knows that the only way in which artisanal knowledge can be preserved is acting collectively, so she participates in as many projects as she can find to safekeep the heritage of pottery. In fact, she leads processes and puts forth a all sorts of action plans with this goal in mind. She did not only lead La Chamba’s Artisan Association to attain the Denomination of Origin Seal for her town’s ceramics, but she was also invited as an illustrious member of her community to strengthen the region’s identity brand through training in communal rural development in Japan. And, as if it were not enough already, she coordinated the Ministry of Culture’s editorial project that was the Clay Notebooks, which payed homage to the great craftswomen of La Chamba. She knows that spreading the universe of clay and perfecting its production will, in turn, have an effect in the quality of life of her artisan colleagues. Her family has dedicated its life to the trade and has been able to grow along with it. Today, she only wants her community to live what she and her family have been able to all these years.