Case Study: Recycled Sari Book

Reflections on craft product development from the eyes of an industrial (product) designer. While living in Bangladesh, one of the social businesses that I worked with was Sacred Mark Enterprise (SME), which works to provide alternative employment to former sex workers through handicraft production. My support centered around graduating this business from being incubated under […]

Artesan Profile: Ça Cartoone

With a strong passion for building things by hand, Françoise Hazel has combined her passion for interior design and sustainability to create Ça Cartoone : a recycled furniture company. After participating in a workshop on using cardboard to create furniture and home decor items in Guadeloupe, Françoise returned to her native Haiti to set up […]

Artesan Profile: Port Prince

A conversation with founder, Elvita Dominique  Port Prince has been in business for a just over a year. The name of the organization comes from the capital city of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. We sell unique high quality handmade goods from Haiti. The focus is on products that are useful objects (home goods/decor) and durable (not disposable […]

Sharing stories: What’s in Our Closet!

A link to our slideshow, Sharing Stories: What’s in Our Closet!   In mid-May we partnered with the Shop for Good and ran a week-long campaign inviting people to share what was in their closets. The guidelines were easy – simply share 1-5 items that were either handmade, artisan made, vintage and/or upcycled and provide some background […]

What’s In Your Closet?

  We are excited to partner with The Shop for Good in our launch of the ‘What’s in your closet?’ taking place May 15-22. Many of us have been conscious consumers all along and have items in our closets that are handmade, upcycled, vintage and hold special meaning. Through photos and short anecdotes we aim to showcase […]

Kantala: Sri Lankan sustainable fashion

Sustainable Sri Lankan brand poised to be a global fashion house: Kantala. In part one, we hear about the story behind the brand. The Brand Feeling frustrated that Sri Lanka had failed time and time again to leverage its rich history and culture to propel itself in the global marketplace, co-founders Vikum Rajapakse and Nadishan […]

Upcycling

Upcycling – the creative reuse of discarded objects and/or materials to make an object of higher value and/or quality than the original – is a practice that we are beginning to see more and more of in the fashion industry too. It is the process of using unwanted and often times waste materials to create […]

Granny’s DIY Shopper Bags

As of March 2016, the city of Bangalore, India is now plastic free. This means that when shopping at a grocery stores and even some retail stores, one has to have an alternative. What better way to get creative and come up with some great alternatives! In fact, that is precisely what my grandmother did, […]

Artesan Profile: Mayamiko, Malawi & UK

Having worked in the two thirds world in developing economies, Paola Masperi founded Mayamiko in 2008 as a charitable project with the aim of turning it into a sustainable business. Patterning with artisans in Malawi, Masperi was keen to take a holistic approach in providing individuals with opportunities through education, skills training and access to […]