POKOLOKO
THE POKOLOKO STORY STARTS IN THE BACK OF A GOLD STICK SHIFT CAR ON IT'S LAST LEGS...
Jessie Lyon had come home to Ottawa, Canada from a year in Nicaragua where she helped a youth group start a bike rental service, and then she met Case Bakker. Case suggested they start their own conscious business selling blankets made by his Ecuadorian artisan friends whom he met on a recent trip.
With dreams of more adventures, and ways to give back, Jessie and Case filled Case's car with blankets and sold them all to boutiques across the Ottawa Valley. At the time, these Ecuadorian makers were living and working in a single-room concrete home in rural Ecuador with their parents and two young kids, and a way to sell more blankets meant a chance to improve their quality of life.
That's when Jesse and Case realized these were more than just blankets. This was a way to celebrate the wanderlust lifestyle, bring global inspiration to people's homes, and directly support the artisans behind the craft. They called it Pokoloko, from the Spanish saying "poco loco", meaning "a little bit crazy", which is what the artisans called them when they returned with another order for 100 blankets.
What started as a dream in the back of Case's car, has grown to over 1000 boutiques across North America in support of over 100 artisan families in South America, Turkey, Morocco, and Indonesia. These artisans can count on sustainable income and healthy work environments thanks to the incredible support of the Pokoloko community.
