clayhands

Estructuras de Tierra

Spreading self-sufficiency through earth-building skills in rural Colombia and South America

Building Inspiring Spaces

Headquartered in Saratoga, California and with offices in Bogota Colombia, CLAYHANDS promotes, teaches and demonstrates earth construction and green building techniques in small rural towns in South America beginning in the Andes Mountain region of Colombia.

Bright young men and women, their families and communities can be involved in building their own homes; often without the burden or expense of mortgages. Skills learned can be the basis of further employment and careers. Earth, mud and straw in Colombia is free and labor is abundant.

Clayhands teaches the building of adobe and pressed earth houses using traditional skills that give involvement and employment to the Andes mountain Community.

Meet Our Team

Ron Ringsrud
Ron Ringsrud
Ron’s ties to Colombia run deep, as Ron has spent much of his life there. He has been the principal of Ronald Ringsrud Co. Colombian Emeralds for 30 years, and is the author of “Emeralds, A Passionate Guide.” In the 1990s, Ron purchased a dilapidated 150 year old house in the historic emerald district of Bogota, and undertook a loving restoration. With its 20” thick adobe walls, the home introduced Ron to alternative construction methods involving adobe, cob and pressed earth. He pondered whether alternative construction might help address the housing needs of workers and families in remote locales where emerald mines are found. From this idea, Clayhands was born.
Roger Schat
Roger SchatOperations Director
A bighearted and visionary guy. Building, fundraising or planning I can always depend on his friendly enthusiasm.

Programs and Projects

Our main program is teaching, demonstrating, and utilizing earth construction techniques for communities in Colombia.

We promote and teach alternative construction activities in northern South America. By building community centers and facilities for local communities, we teach local youth the skills they need for green building and earth construction techniques, transferring knowledge and craftsmanship skills to the local people to last generations.

Trusted Partners

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