Current Today is bcdW Magazine's daily newsletter — one story, one city, read through the eyes of the world.

We launch today in test flight. Each edition takes a single real story from one of our cities and asks: what does this mean for someone living somewhere else entirely? What ideas travel? What collaborations become possible?
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On the ground floor of Medellín's recently renovated MAMM — Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín — past the art books and through a quietly deliberate doorway, is a store called Tigre de Salón. It fits in a single room. But Tigre de Salón is not a small idea.

Fashion, ceramics, jewelry, bags — four distinct categories operating under one roof, one name, one philosophy. The brand has built its identity around a single declaration: "Hacer Bonito para Hacer Bien" — Creating beauty to do good. bcd-w

Every material — wool, plant fiber, leather — is sourced from regenerative farms. Every piece passes through the hands of indigenous and artisan communities across Colombia. Every object, by the time it reaches you, carries a traceable story: where the material came from, whose hands shaped it, and what community that work sustains. bcd-w

The Iku indigenous community of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta has been weaving alongside the brand's team since 2018. In La Guajira, near Cabo de la Vela, the Wayúu women of the Pushana clan brought what the brand calls "the fire and vibrant soul" of their weaving tradition into the work in 2022. A carpentry workshop in Jardín produces pieces in oak. The Medellín headquarters — TdS Trades — anchors it all. bcd-w

Walk into the store and you may be handed a map. Not a city guide — a hand-illustrated chart of Tigre de Salón's production network stretching across the Colombian landscape. "The map is how we show people where things actually come from," says Mariana Leiva, who introduced bcdW to the brand. "It's not abstract. These are real places, real communities, real relationships."

The brand describes itself as "una sinergia de cosmovisiones" — a synergy of worldviews. What Tigre de Salón is attempting is not fusion for aesthetics. It is a genuine dialogue between urban design thinking and indigenous craft knowledge — between the city's visual language and the community's lived relationship with material, land, and time. bcd-w

In an era when "artisanal" has become a marketing category, Tigre de Salón insists on something more structural: the community is not the story. The community is the partner.

(Source: bcdW Magazine, bcd-w.xyz — March 7, 2026)

New York → Relative Arts, a brick-and-mortar community space and shop in NYC's East Village, is the city's only boutique dedicated exclusively to contemporary Indigenous fashion and design — founded by Korina Emmerich (Puyallup) and Liana Shewey (Mvskoke), who launched the city's first Indigenous New York Fashion Week in 2025. Cultural Survival Their mission and Tigre de Salón's are almost identical in structure: community first, commerce second. A joint pop-up — Colombian indigenous weave alongside North American indigenous textile — would be one of the most coherent collaborations either brand has ever had. Faherty, a New York-based B Corp, has developed what the industry now describes as a blueprint for ethical collaboration with indigenous communities, Fashionista and is precisely the kind of larger partner that could give Tigre de Salón a North American distribution lane without compromising its supply chain philosophy.

Los Angeles → Christy Dawn, based in Venice, operates a farm-to-fashion model — working with small-scale producers and artisans, making most pieces in their Los Angeles studio, with a Land Stewardship program that regenerates degraded farmland. Styling Outfits The material philosophy between Christy Dawn and Tigre de Salón is close enough to be siblings. A co-designed capsule — Christy Dawn's deadstock fabric meets Wayúu handweave — would resonate deeply with the LA market, which prioritizes transparent supply chains and natural fibers, with ethically sourced handmade products outpacing conventional apparel by a factor of seven according to NYU Stern research. Indiehaat Also worth noting: Seek Collective produces sustainable apparel hand-crafted by artisans in India and California using natural materials Zanniee — a brand already operating the same local-to-local artisan model as TdS, and a natural co-retail partner.

Austin, Texas → Teysha works directly with artisan communities throughout the Americas to develop local infrastructure, value chains, designs, and production processes that honor traditional craft while bringing market access and opportunity. The Good Trade Teysha and Tigre de Salón are essentially doing the same thing on different ends of the same continent. A formal partnership — shared sourcing networks, co-branded market appearances at Austin's Startco events — would make both brands stronger. Miranda Bennett Studio produces modern, plant-dyed apparel in Austin, naturally dyeing all textiles and processing everything from their Austin studio. ATXcursions Plant dye is the shared material language. That's where a conversation starts.

Dubai → All Things Mochi, available in Dubai, works closely with artisans from all corners of the globe, harnessing their expertise to craft one-of-a-kind creations — and is dedicated to ensuring fair trade practices and fair compensation for artisans, which they describe as sustaining traditional crafts while uplifting communities globally. Forever Tourism They are already doing curatorial work that Tigre de Salón's objects would slot into naturally. Abadia, an ethical luxury brand based in the UAE, is committed to preserving the craftsmanship of the Arabian Peninsula and partners with local artisans to produce unique, culturally rich designs using luxury deadstock materials. Savoir Flair The alignment with TdS's philosophy is direct — and the Dubai luxury market is actively seeking exactly this kind of provenance-led, story-rich object. A TdS pop-up inside Abadia's Dubai retail presence would be a first-of-its-kind Americas-to-Gulf creative bridge.

Amman → Jordan's own craft tradition — Bedouin silver jewelry, Palestinian tatreez embroidery, Dead Sea mineral ceramics — has been quietly building an ethical artisan economy for decades without the international visibility it deserves. Tigre de Salón's model of hand-illustrated provenance maps and community co-creation is a direct structural mirror for what Amman's artisan brands are already doing. The collaboration here isn't product — it's methodology. An exchange program between TdS's Medellín design team and Amman's artisan cooperatives would produce work that neither city could create alone. For Amman's local consultants: this is a conversation worth starting now, before someone else makes the introduction.

Seoul → Korean brands are frequently collaborating with local artisans to showcase traditional craftsmanship while promoting fair trade principles — and brands like UL:KIN have gained global recognition for combining aesthetics with a low environmental footprint. KAESA But the most resonant Seoul match for Tigre de Salón may be Ahhorn — a fashion hanbok brand that creates high-quality items inspired by Korean aesthetics, using the cool, luxurious touch of Korean ramie combined with natural and recycled materials, offering an immersive experience of Korean culture through its design products. Milanloveseoul Korean ramie and Colombian plant fiber. Traditional loom knowledge from the Han River and from the Sierra Nevada. A joint object — single material, two cosmologies — would be the kind of piece that neither Seoul Fashion Week nor bcdW has seen before.

Tel Aviv → The 2026 Tel Aviv Biennale of Craft & Design, now in its third edition, is showcasing works that span the full spectrum of craft media — ceramics, glass, textile, paper, fiber, metal, and jewelry — with a specific focus on ethical sourcing, sustainable production, and fair practices, and highlighting the power of collaboration and synergy across disciplines. Eretz Israel Museum Tigre de Salón belongs in that conversation — not as a foreign import, but as a peer. Nahalat Binyamin Arts and Crafts Fair, which takes place every Tuesday and Friday in Tel Aviv, is an entirely artisan-made, handcrafted market Secret Tel Aviv where TdS objects would find an immediate and educated audience. The entry point for TdS into Tel Aviv isn't a retailer — it's the Biennale submission. The deadline for the 2026 edition may already have passed, but the relationship is worth building now for 2028.

Your Next Opportunity Is Already Happening — Just Not Where You're Looking

The deal, the partner, the market, the project — it's out there. bcdW connects people who are ready to move with the places, people, and ideas that are ready to receive them. Business opportunities, revenue, partnerships, projects worth joining. Read the magazine that finds the connection before you do.

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Where Will the Olds Live When Everything Changes? We're All Getting There. Today's Old Is Tomorrow's Ours.

We are getting older. All of us. Faster than we planned, longer than we expected, in cities that were never designed for this. Climate is changing everything — heat, water, food, safety. And at the same time, the oldest generation in human history is growing larger, living longer, and asking a question no city has fully answered yet: where do we belong in all of this? Sim Eternal is the project building that story — not as a warning, not as a policy paper, but as a living narrative about the future city told by the people who will live in it the longest. The olds are not the problem. They are the point. And this city is theirs.

→ Visit Sim Eternal City Project

Current runs on one city, one story, every day. But the map is still being drawn.

We are looking for contributors who live and work inside the cities they write about — one story from your city, told the way only a local can tell it. We are also looking for readers who want to add their voice to other cities' stories — benchmarking, similar cases, collaboration ideas, a connection worth making. If a story from Medellín reminds you of something happening in your city, tell us. That response is the whole point.

Right now we are building across the Americas and Asia. But the dream is longer than that — from America to Afro-Eurasia, local to local, city to city, one real connection at a time.

More stories. More cities. More continents.

If you have one, send it.

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