The nonprofit organization Synergo Arts opened in Arizona in 2007 and received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt designation from the IRS in 2009. Through its closing at the end of 2012, Synergo Arts served as the education, consulting and design resource for the Ergonomic Weaving Bench, to maximize the health, income, creativity, performance, productivity and craft quality of communities of backstrap weavers around the world.
Board members Karen Piegorsch, Donald L. Morelli, Anne Dunham, Carol Rheaume and Gail Baker express heartfelt gratitude to the volunteers and donors whose generosity supported the vision of a world in which the Ergonomic Weaving Bench empowers communities of backstrap weavers to create more prosperous, healthy lives through the application of ergonomic knowledge and sustainable innovations.
Please help spread the word that the educational resources produced by Synergo Arts are available to the public for free, in both English and Spanish.
This website will remain active through the summer of 2013, and will then be removed from the Internet. For more information on the bench, please feel free to contact Karen Piegorsch.
Board members Karen Piegorsch, Donald L. Morelli, Anne Dunham, Carol Rheaume and Gail Baker express heartfelt gratitude to the volunteers and donors whose generosity supported the vision of a world in which the Ergonomic Weaving Bench empowers communities of backstrap weavers to create more prosperous, healthy lives through the application of ergonomic knowledge and sustainable innovations.
Please help spread the word that the educational resources produced by Synergo Arts are available to the public for free, in both English and Spanish.
This website will remain active through the summer of 2013, and will then be removed from the Internet. For more information on the bench, please feel free to contact Karen Piegorsch.
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I've been weaving since I was thirteen; always with a lot of pain, but it's how I support my family. Weaving with this bench is totally different, because I feel comfortable, and each weaving advances more quickly. I am so happy weaving now --sometimes it even makes me want to sing! - Doña María, in Santa Catarina Palopó, Guatemala |
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Every day I use the bench my son Mario made. It's beautiful, and I don't just mean to look at but that it's truly useful. It's so comfortable that you don't feel the time passing, and lets you weave faster. I hope that all the weavers can have a bench one day. - Doña Berta, in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala |
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I'm grateful for learning to make these benches. The benches are good, so the women won't hurt their bodies while they work. - Amilcar, in Cajola, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala |
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Ergonomics has brought me great personal benefits, both physical and mental. I'm very interested in continuing to help other women in the world reduce the fatigue and pain that their bodies endure while weaving. Then they will be better able to appreciate their own efforts, talent and skills. - Juana Ramos, in San Jorge La Laguna, Guatemala |
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Tech Award, 2006 from the Tech Museum of Innovation's award program for Technology Benefiting Humanity User-centered Design Award, 2007 from the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society, Product Design Technical Group |
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The ergonomic weaving bench enables women artisans to protect their health while producing more textiles of better quality. As a result, they increase their ability to provide for their families, and also preserve their weaving culture.
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