Marcella Echavarria
Marcella Echavarria is a lifestyle specialist and textile curator. She collaborates with designers and artisans around the world developing links that connect local knowledge with global trends. Her specialty is branding luxury and sustainability in a way that preserves cultures and traditions.
Marcella has 25 years of hands on, first-hand experience in starting businesses, establishing bridges between cultures and people and integrating sustainability and profitability. She founded SURevolution in 2005 in collaboration with Donna Karan, one of the first global brands to link the world of luxury with the handmade.
In 2010 she started her consulting firm focused on branding and creative communication. She holds a bachelor from Brown University, a masters in sustainable development from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and a career in the publishing world as editor of magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Hand Eye and contributor to many others such as Selvedge, Vogue, House and Leisure, Trend Tablet and Wall Paper, among many others.
Her clients include individual creators, artisanal brands, textile related brands, retail concepts, and travel companies, among others. She has led consulting projects for The United Nations (UN), Unesco, USAID, Technoserve, The International Finance Corporation (IFC), The Organization of American States (OAS), Porticus Foundation, The Governments of Colombia, Chile, Cambodia, México, Perú, and Swaziland.
In 2018 Marcella started XTANT her most personal project to date with Kavita Parmar. They have together worked with many artisan communities around the globe including curating a first ever global gathering of 45 artisans from 23 countries in Mexico DF, TEXTO | 2020
She co-teaches the course Crafting Your Brand specially tailored for textile businesses in collaboration with Polly Leonard from Selvedge Magazine. She is a frequent speaker at universities and sustainability forums.
Marcella started Noir as a passion project that connects her appreciation for mud silk, a heritage textile with 2500 years of history and remarkable qualities, with her vision of what the future of fashion should embrace. She believes in quality, craftsmanship, slowness, ancestral geometrical shapes and respect for makers.