“How many crafted tassels does it take to change the world?”

This bunch of handcrafted tassels, has varied sought of expressions, with different angles that when targeted with right enchantment strikes a chord on the audience, this is when the real essence is captured! It was also interestingly explained in the seminar which I attended pertaining to ‘Acts of seeing in Fashion design’ by Stefanie Malmgren de Oliveira (Swedish School of Textiles, 09/04/2018) where ideologies are formed in the sense of sight, which led me to think further of that eventually it could be unimaginable to interpret the elements which are outlined with cultural and social values !!

So Good Afternoon Everyone!

It's a cloudy day, to look through the window, while I am penning down the notes on the literature! Yes, literature that can take a long time, but I have to effectively narrow it down, while to retain its main purpose. I am working on a self-designed field study, where my fields are pertaining to social entrepreneurship and collaboration. It is titled as, “Implications on collaboration with social entrepreneurs. It’s pertaining to how cultures mingle with each other to push through their boundaries to create products containing a cultural value, that have to be eventually sold to the customer.

Since IKEA, as a brand has a profound effect worldwide with its interiors and home linen collection, IKEA has come about with initiatives with social entrepreneurs around the world in its premium collection from the year 2012. It has introduced traditional crafts, in its premium collection for which the production is outsourced in developing countries, where the root of the craft lies.

“How many tassels does it take to change the world?” – A question effectively asked by IKEA.  The TILLTALANDE collection launched in 2017, is a collaboration between IKEA and Jordan River Foundation, where the products are handmade by Jordanian and refugee women artisans. 

Image Source – (https://www.ikea.com/jo/en/catalog/categories/collections/39492/)

The ability of craftsmanship in textiles and various other products is seen in history from before itself, and thus strives in nature and in societies. With globalization and the continuous development of industry and logistics, the production of ‘garments’ in the developing world is different, but how do we understand the implications that the crafted products carry, have we also realised the ‘cultural meaning’ associated with it, where Western brands are outsourcing craft? Global production systems, is ought to cause damage, but damage to cultural orientations is difficult to cater. How to safeguard it? How to make the best of it to empower and influence other communities through the products?

Culture as a word can be redundant, where we take different perspectives from it, but it can be difficult to get in through the core of it. As for now I am looking forward for carrying out some interviews, of the ones involved in the supply chain, where there are many questions to be answered…, that could lead to an interesting perspective altogether!