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| July 2009: Top
five links for inspiration. |
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| Justin
Reed |
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Chris Jordan |
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Architecture Photos |
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Faces in the Sand |
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Pen
Art |
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June
2009 |
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AOD:
What was the spark that ignited One
Thread Fair Trade?
MAYURA
KONA:
The plight of battered and disadvantaged
women is an issue that has deeply
concerned me since adolescence. During
my visits to India over the course
of my childhood, I have witnessed
the horrors that women in my native
country face, from being beaten by
their husbands to being sold off as
sex workers. I saw many women who
worked in my relatives’ houses,
women I knew personally, go through
experiences such as these. To read
about these stories in the paper is
one thing. To see it happen to women
you care about is a staggering, painful
experience that changes you forever.
Three years ago, I was inspired to
take action against this reality when
I met Sandhya. She ran an non-profit,
Vijay Foundation Trust (VFT), and
an orphanage in my mother’s
hometown, a small town called Kadapa
in Andhra Pradesh, India. Upon finding
a severely beaten woman left for the
dead in a field near her home, Sandhya
began to take in destitute women and
training them in textile arts. I saw
the immense potential in combining
my design skills with the women’s
tailoring skills to both improve their
lives and create a successful business.
I had been working as an Art Director
at a major apparel licensing company
and although I loved my job, I did
not feel fulfilled. I simply didn’t
feel that I was using my education,
privilege, and design skills to do
something good for humanity, to improve
the world in which we all live in.
It was from my encounter with Sandhya
that the idea was born. I have spent
the last two years developing the
fair trade unit in Kadapa and now,
the organization has finally reached
the launch stage. |
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| Pieces
from the Rama Collection in Royal,
Silver and Chile |
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AOD:
How does One Thread recruit their
artisans?
MAYURA
KONA:
Currently, we are working specifically
with the women in the Kadapa District
in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India.
This was chosen as our flagship community
simply because of the extreme atrocities
these women face in their daily lives.
According to the World Bank, rural
women in Andhra Pradesh live in a
state of extreme destitution, with
6.2 million women living below $1.25/day.
Moreover, it is estimated that 70%
of married rural women in A.P. are
victims of battery, rape, or coerced
sex. These statistics are simply jarring
and unacceptable. Beyond domestic
violence and extreme poverty, young
rural women in India (estimated 20
million) are being forced to enter
the flesh trade, which in many cases
leads to the contraction of AIDS and
early deaths. For all of the above
reasons and more, we have chosen this
community to empower. In the future,
we would like to extend our reach
to communities who are need all over
the world. We focus on females as
they are the center of the family
unit and therefore, have the most
influence over the next generation.
If the mother is empowered, her children
also tend to adopt the same level
of self-confidence and will. Tending
to the next generation is one of the
most important parts of breaking through
poverty. |
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| Pieces
from the Rama Collection in Silver,
Jungle, Gold, and Royal |
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AOD:
Describe the process of producing
the hand-crafted accents, from design
to finished article?
MAYURA
KONA:
Every one of my designs starts with
paper and a black ink pen. There is
an intangible quality that you achieve
when you begin the design process
with your own hand drawings, without
any use of technology. I find that
initial stage of creation imperative
to achieve authentic design. Once
my drawings are completed, I scan
them into my computer and vectorize
them for screenprinting. This process
is quite time intensive as every line
and detail is traced out by hand.
While I’m designing, I also
have to decide on the color scheme
for the collection. This has to be
done early as we work in only hand
loom silks, that are hand-dyed and
hand-woven. Therefore, our silks have
to be ordered far in advance in order
to be ready in time for collection.
We choose to work only with hand loom
silk as they are far better for the
environment and support villages of
weavers. Handloom fabrics produce
ZERO carbon emissions versus power
loom fabrics that contribute large
amounts of emissions into our environment.
One job on a power loom sucks up as
much energy as 20 vacuum cleaners
running all day. Also, hand loom weaving
supports up to 9 times more families
as all of the work is done by hand.
In India, there are hundreds of villages
that survive on the art of hand loom
weaving alone and many of these villages
are facing dire poverty as the demand
for hand loom fabrics has dropped
significantly in the shadow of the
quicker, cheaper power loom option.
We are trying to support these hand
loom weaving villages and their dying
art, as well as have a better effect
on our environment.
I usually travel to India after the
initial design process. While I’m
there, I make sure that all of our
raw materials are ordered and shipped
to our textile workshop in Kadapa.
Kadapa does not have many materials
of its own, therefore everything has
to be sent from neighboring cities,
even the embroidery needles. The Rama
collection cushions are created using
a technique called shadow-work. In
essence, it is the opposite process
of appliqué. We lay down two
layers of silk and cut shapes out
of the top layer, in order to reveal
the layer underneath. The edges are
then embroidered in order to fasten
the fabrics together. Our artisans
are highly skilled tailors and have
become quite adept at the shadow-work
process. Needless to say, there are
many elements that go into producing
one single cushion and they are truly
a reflection of the spirit of the
women we work with. |
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| Our
hand-singed artisan label |
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AOD:
How do you remunerate your artisans?
MAYURA KONA:
At One Thread Fair Trade, we believe
in transparency. For every community
we work with, we start at the grass
roots level to determine the appropriate
fair wage rate for the specific community.
The first stage in the process is
to determine the artisans’ true
cost of living. The cost of living
covers all living expenses for the
artisan and her children, including
but not limited to: Food, Education
Fees, Loan Repayment, Rent, Health
Care, Electricity, Transportation,
Water, and Spending Allowance.
Once the living wage is determined,
our fair wage is placed at 10% above
the living wage. This extra 10% gives
our artisans the extra income they
need to contribute to their own long-term
savings. Creating a savings account
allows the artisans to truly stop
living from day to day and break out
of the cycle of poverty.
The skill level of the artisan is
also an important factor that must
be taken into account when distributing
wages. In our Kadapa unit, we have
three different skills levels with
different wage rates:
Skill Level Wage Rate
Semi-skilled Fair Wage
Skilled 5% above Fair Wage
Highly-skilled 10% above Fair Wage
Separate from the wage, One Thread
Fair Trade also covers all raw material
costs, unit maintenance, and rent
fees during production time. Every
year, we examine any changes in artisans’
cost of living and update the fair
wage rate accordingly.
Additionally, we contribute 10% of
the company’s profits back to
the artisan community to fund the
education of the artisans’ children
and to fund business/leadership workshops.
Also, our textile workshop is a safe
and healthy working area which is
actually guarded by watchmen, in order
to ensure the safety of the women
inside. We are constantly looking
for more ways to help our artisans
and truly improve their lives. |
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| Portraits
of a few of the inspiring women we
work with |
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AOD:
How can designers support One Thread
and purchase these fantastic accents?
MAYURA KONA:
Designers can support One Thread by
visiting our website! Our products
can be directly purchased right off
of our website. All of our products
come with wonderful labels that contain
the name of one of the artisans that
crafted the product, a statement of
what she believes in, and an artisan
number that you can use to find her
profile/story on our website. We truly
strive to create a real connection
between our conscious customers here
and the artisans themselves. |
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| Mayura
with the artisans |
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AOD:
What plans do you have for expanding
One Thread?
MAYURA
KONA:
We will be coming out with our second
cushion collection for the upcoming
winter season. We are also looking
into expanding our product line, perhaps
to more home décor items and
maybe even evening clutches. We would
also like to start work with more
artisan communities and are discussing
these options with groups in Africa
and Mexico. |
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| A couple
of the hand loom silk weavers we work
with |
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Recommended
Books:
Three
Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Out
of Poverty by Paul Polak
The
Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein |
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| Want to be featured
on the AOD site? Submit
your portfolio here. |
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