We set up node last year so that we can help a fair trade project/school set up a really nice social enterprise. so far its been going pretty good. Amongst other things we are being stocked by the design museum but there have been other very exciting opportunities that we have not been able to fully realize yet.

There are just 2 of us. Akshay is in Kathmandu and I'm really busy on other projects and to be honest ive no idea how to best do a lot of this stuff. I am offered a lot of opportunities with the rugs but i dont have much business sense, it would be great to have someone on board with a good vision and a more structured approach for growth.

We think we have the potential to scale up. We want to be able to pay ourselves (all voluntary so far) and scale it up to something thats helping lots more people out. we have been offered some VERY VERY exciting exhibitions with some VERY VERY exciting people, and i want to give this project the attention it deserves. 

 

So thats why we are looking for someone to help. If you can make it work and you can make this pay ..you have a job!

for more info on the job see the detailed  description below. you can also see the links below:

chrishaughton.com/node

nodenepal.com

 

 

 

• to co-ordinate an international fair trade design exhibition project
• to work with designers and Nepal-based manufacturer
• to promote and market project to museums and retailers in UK and abroad.

Specific responsibilities:

• To create a project plan and budget, set up meetings, liaise with our client, keep project on track both financially and in time.

• Create a collection of 20 different contemporary fair trade uniquely designed rugs.
• You will be the main contact between the 20 designers and the manufacturer in Nepal to create, manufacture and deliver rugs to the UK in time.  Responsible for all correspondence, skype conversations, emails etc.
• To write a design brief for up to 20 designers and illustrators, contact potential designers and liaise with designers, creation of contracts and royalty agreements with designers, all liaison with designers.  There will be a run of up to 50 rugs per design.
• You will be responsible to create the rug exhibition in London in September with major museum and potential major retailer.

• (Most of designers and illustrators are already known to my client, so little promotion required to get other designers involved)
• To promote exhibition in London to press, potential retailers, with a view to tour exhibition or show in our outside of UK.
• Find additional retail and exhibition opportunities.
• Create online sales through own website or working with partners.

• You will be responsible for the commercial success of this project, with the main aim to financially support the trade fair manufacturer in Nepal through regular trading.  This is a self-funded project, so no government funding is involved, although some sponsorship opportunities might be possible.
• You will need to be able to budget and price the collection appropriately, and promote to retailers to show and sell the rugs
• There is the potential to work here as an agent on a longer term project basis.

• We are looking for a candidate with an entrepreneurial, ‘can do’ attitude, who makes things happen.
• You have got excellent communication and negotiation skills, ideally working with designers, manufacturers and retailers. The manufacturer in Nepal has been educated at Harvard in US and has very good English.
• You probably have got a very strong marketing, retail and or design management background, potentially working as an agent.  It would be good if you have got experience in costing, pricing and royalty management.
• You must be very interested in fair trade.

As I watch the horrific aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the scale of the rescue effort needed, I cant believe the turmoil that has struck Japan. It is so alarming and distressing to see a developed country that is prepared for the danger of an earthquake be so totally overwhelmed. I am also becoming more and more alarmed of the scale of the disaster if an earthquake were to strike Kathmandu. I met a seismologist who was working here last year and he told me some extremely frightening statistics, my girlfriend has actually also been working on an article about it for the last few weeks. The verdict is that when an earthquake strikes here it may well be more lethal than Haiti.

Mahaguthi 'Craft with a Conscience' has the most interesting history of all the fair trade groups in Nepal. I had read about their work many years ago and had always wanted to work with them. I want to give a bit about their history because i think it sums up much of what fair trade is about. It was started by the legendary social reformer Tulsi Mehar in 1923. In the early 20th century Nepal had a very rigid caste and social structure, only the high caste men were educated and literate. Mehar campaigned against this inequality and for his vocal anti-establishment ideas he was thrown out of Nepal by the Nepalese Rana government and ended up exiled in India. His search for truth and equality led him to Mahatma Gandhi and they worked together for many years. His time with Gandhi gave him an opportunity to gain insight to the liberation of the underprivileged. In a system where there are no opportunities for women to bring in money for themselves they must rely on their husbands and fathers. Without the means to improve their own lives women's situations can be very restrictive and this can be hugely problematic if there is domestic violence or abuse. Mehar and Gandhi's vision for reform was to empower women through education and income generation projects so that they can become economically self-reliant. Gandhi wrote to the Prime Minister of Nepal to ask him to let Mehar back into the country. Once back in Kathmandu in 1923 and with a donation from Gandhi, Mehar set up the spinning and weaving develop

ment project that became Mahaguthi. It was not only the first social development project in Nepal but was actually among the first ever manufacturing units in the economically closed feudal country.

Mahaguthi currently takes on 90 new women annually (most are widows or victims of domestic abuse) to train them in literacy and employable skills and school their children as well as supporting a hospital.

I have written and illustrated a children's book 'A Bit Lost' with Borim Press and Walker books and I had the idea to create a small fair trade soft toy to sell along with the book that could be entirely made from scratch by the women at Mahaguthi. The toy is entirely made from raw cotton, using all the traditional cottage industry techniques that Gandhi made famous. It is hand-spun into yarn, dyed, hand-woven and finally sewn all by the women at Mahaguthi.

 

Gandhi and Tulsi Mehar Shresta

Some of the women employed at Mahaguthi are deaf or disabled. This is the sign you do when you take Monday off.....'Im outta here. Peace'

 

a few images from the classroom

this guy is having a really bad banana. not nice.

All the Ullu's! The Hindi word for 'owl' is 'ullu' which is also the word you use if you want to call someone stupid. Owls are thought of as stupid in India and Nepal, the opposite to how they are seen in the west. My owl is definitely a Nepali 'ullu' rather than a western owl. Actually I have become known as ullu-man in the Mahaguthi office (!).Thanks very much to Sumitra, Anita, Chandigarh and Uttara (also to Ono and Sunil who arent here)

*UPDATE* they are now available from my new shop here

From their profits they also fund a school of 260...

...and an orphanage of 19 children

Some people have mailed me to ask how I got in contact with the Fair Trade groups etc so i thought I should explain it a bit here.

There is two main certification marks that govern fair trade. The first is the FLO mark on the left above, it oversees commodities such as coffee/tea/fruit and is the most widely recognised. The second is the WFTO mark which oversees the more complex fair trade manufacturing certification. Clothing/stationery/handicrafts any manufactured goods etc all come under this mark so it is the place to go for designers looking to create and manufacture designs and products.

I always wonder why it is the Fair Trade raw commodity mark is so widely recognised but the Fair Trade manufacturing mark isn't as well known. Mainly perhaps because the Fair Trade raw commodity mark products can sell themselves without much help from design (coffee, tea etc need nothing more than a packet) but fair trade manufactured products aren't as easy because they heavily rely on design. There are great companies such as People Tree that are doing their bit to show that its possible to do great designs in fair trade, but in general I think its clear that there still isn't enough great design. Why isn't it everywhere?  More than 50% of coffee sold in the UK is fair trade and still rapidly growing but in clothing it is less than one percent. If there were more it would be a huge force in poverty reduction and the main thing I see holding it back is design.

Having worked myself in advertising and commercial design for a long time I had become very disillusioned in the world and business of design, and I am very grateful to the people I have met in Fair Trade who have reminded me again what good design can be. There are some amazing traditional crafts and hand made objects that just cannot be produced industrially that lend themselves if designed nicely to really beautiful high-end design products. Textile designers in particular would be blown away. Not only that but I have met some pretty amazing and inspiring people. It has been a great opportunity for me to take some time to do something a bit different that is generated by myself rather than commissioned and it has led my design work into lots of new and unexpected directions.

For anyone who is thinking about getting involved they can go straight to the WFTO website here and contact producer groups all over the world by region/country or by product type. Literally anything you can think of (that can be non-industrially manufactured) can be made somewhere by some co-operative. You can also join them on facebook here 

If you have any other questions please leave a comment below.

 

bag prints...

and some soft toys.

I have just been working on some fair trade soft toys here in Nepal with ACP

We still have to iron out a few things ...probably going to shrink them in size a little... but hopefully they will be available in autumn 2011 from Peopletree

new nepali words of the day: 'bandha sukya' = 'monkey finished'

These are some of the images from the illustrators at my workshop at Kathmandu University. We combined images from Nepali folk stories and legends with other images to create new ways of telling the stories. Thanks very much to all the students at KU. The standard of work was really very high.

You can read more about it here

the images below are by (top to bottom) Sadhana Poudel, Aditya and Kanchan Burathoki

read the photo.circle post about it here 

I’m giving a talk tomorrow at Kathmandu University. go here for details. everyone welcome

Jointly organised by KUart and photo.circle