Showing posts tagged craft
Tilonia! Rajasthan!
I just reached the Barefoot College in the village of Tilonia and I am so freakin’ excited! This is my first official visit to Rajasthan, the capital of Indian craft. Sadly, I arrived at night and can barely see the nose in front of me, so I’m headed to sleep so I can wake up ASAP and discover the awesomeness that awaits me.
Barefoot College has their hands (or “feet,” I should say) in a number of social enterprise and innovative development initiatives. I’m here spending most of my time with their craft sector (Tilonia.com), and specifically to document the production of a new line of home goods designed by the ladies of Designing Hope in Brooklyn.
Tomorrow is India Republic Day, so we’ll celebrate by dancing and being festive with the women and kidos. Then it’s back to work for the next couple of days.
Pics and video snippets to follow soon!
Sweet dreams from India.
~Kari
Gandhi’s weapon was a spinning wheel
Gandhi’s revolution was about establishing self-sufficiency, peace, and dignity as a means to ending oppression against and creating opportunity for the poor, women, and the most vulnerable of India. And oddly enough, the spinning wheel (or charkha) was the symbol of that socio-economic freedom.
The majority of the country lived (and still lives) in rural areas (72%, according to the 2001 Census) where their main activity and source of income relied on agriculture and handicrafts. Sadly, the creation and salability of Indian-produced textiles were largely crushed by foreign imports during British rule. Gandhi believed that before people could insist on self-rule and independence from the British, they must revive the handicraft sector and reinstate a source for economic independence for the rural people.
Present day, I’m happy to see Gandhi’s spirit and principles are still being carried out through social innovators around the world. Whether it’s through those designing energy-efficient and affordable energy, creating low-cost healthcare products and services, marketing products created by the poor, or building infrastructure and distribution models, we are finding innovative ways of merging business and doing good that is promoting self-sufficiency, peace, and dignity among the oppressed.
We still have a long way to go, but I am inspired to be conducting the Rubina Pilot Project in the same place and among descendants of the same people where Gandhi once held his revolution not so long ago.
Designer Ishan Khosla mentions the Rubina Pilot in his Your Story write-up
One of the designers we’ve been talking with during the Pilot project is Ishan Khosla. He’s a Delhi based graphic designer incorporating traditional artisans into his design process. He was written up in the online Indian magazine, Your Story, and mentions the Rubina project. Thanks, Ishan!
And the Rubina Pilot Project begins…
I’m now settled in India which means that the Rubina Pilot Project has officially started!
What is the Rubina Pilot Project, you ask? Well, I’m here working to recruit the first round of designers + artisans to make unique, limited-edition accessory and home goods products for the online shop set to launch next summer after I return to Brooklyn. The designers and artisans are already working together, and as we sell the cool product they make for Rubina, we also will share the story of their collaboration online. (So think: Online shop and editorial platform featuring designers and artisans making cool and quality products together.)
These partnerships birth quite a story as it’s the blend of a designer, who have been formerly trained through years of study and practice on a mainstream commercial level, and an artisan, who have been taught their craft from birth by a mother who carried the tradition of color, pattern, and technique of the method from her mother and so on. As you can imagine, there are surely ups and downs when blending cultures, traditions, and methods. But there are those out there doing it well, with respect and ethics, and we want to feature them and the beautiful products that result.
The blog posts over the next 5 months will serve as the documentation of my process as I go through the Rubina Pilot. It is likely that what is written above may sound a bit different by the end as I too am learning what exactly “traditional craft” is (in India, at least) and how design is best utilized to empower those that are craftswomen. But the essence won’t change, which is that design + craft is a very powerful combination, and one that Rubina hopes to convey through an online platform where the people behind both can be celebrated, discussed, and exposed with the hopes of moving them forward to create positive change.
And may I ask of you: Please please please follow and give honest feedback. This is a for-profit venture and therefore needs to ultimately be providing something that people want. So, if you like something, let me know. If you see something you don’t like, also let me know (kindly would be appreciated ;-) ). If you have questions for me or those that I’m working with, ask away (either here or here)! I see Rubina as a huge collaboration with many players. And that means you!
One more thing, please check out the About page, scroll to the bottom, and see all the great people who have helped me thus far. They are indeed a dream team and I couldn’t be here without them.
Thanks for reading and here goes nothing!
Kudos Martha and Macy's
Excited to hear that retail giants @MarthaStewart and Macy’s are interested in Haiti’s craft industry as a means to boost the economy that is still trying to find it’s footing after the earthquake.
“The project in Haiti now employs 450 artisans, and their earnings range from 25 percent to 38 percent of the retail price for each item sold in the Macy’s collection.”
(via @EnableChange)
Mast Brothers Chocolate, a brooklyn-based craft chocolate company, talks about their company philosophy.
