India offers a unique range of traditional, beautiful handicrafts. The diversity of India's different cultures and traditions are reflected in the products we source from this fascinating country. In India, we work with several smaller, fairly run production companies and family businesses. We have seen the working conditions and employment relationships on site ourselves and we always enjoy traveling, especially to Rajasthan, to visit our partners there.
Our high-quality textile accessories from Guatemala come from a collective consisting of a total of 400 women who run their business completely independently. The collective, which consists of 17 weaving mills, is based in the western highlands of Guatemala. Here, our unique bags and pouches are woven from recycled fabrics (the huipiles - the typical traditional Guatemalan blouses) according to the old Mayan tradition. Our colorful earrings are also handmade.
Our Thailand collection consists of handmade Hmong-style fabric bags, rattan and water hyacinth bags, jewelry, jewelry pouches and yoga bags. We source these from our Thai fair trade partner, who works with a collective of around 100 Hmong women and is based in the mountainous regions of northern Thailand.
We brought handmade Berber carpets and cushion covers, as well as embroidered leather handbags, from Morocco . In Morocco we work with a family from El Kelaâ des Sraghna, which is about 100 km from Marrakesh. The women of the family make the Berber and Sabra carpets. This means that all carpets are unique. The production of a medium-sized carpet takes about 1-1.5 weeks, as it is not possible to work on a carpet for more than 3 hours a day, otherwise it will cause eye problems. We also work with the family from El Kelaâ des Sraghna to procure the embroidered leather bags.
Mali - the landlocked country in West Africa with around 18 million inhabitants - is known in the field of arts and crafts, especially for its Tuareg jewelry. The Tuareg are a nomadic people who lived for centuries in what are now the states of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya and Burkina Faso. From Mali we source handmade long necklaces and earrings made of Tuareg silver and bronze, Bakelite necklaces (plastic) and colorful bracelets made by hand from the plastic of old rice sacks.
In Egypt, we source our handmade pillows and hand-painted ceramic soap dishes from a cultural association for the preservation and maintenance of Egyptian craftsmanship and culture. This cooperation works with 28 creative groups spread across the country, each specializing in the traditional crafts of their area.
We source high-quality 100% cashmere scarves from Nepal . The small production company we work with is located in the Lalipur district of Bagmati and specializes in the production of high-quality cashmere products. This luxurious, soft and superfine textile fiber is obtained from the Capra Hicus - cashmere goats that live in the Himalayas.
We source Maasai bangles from Kenya . We work with the Beads of Esiteti organization, which lives at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro and handcrafts the traditional, colorful and unique Maasai jewelry.