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People we work with
We work to varying degrees with several hundred people in India and
Bangladesh, to produce our fair trade fashion, interiors and
accessories collections. Some projects are with very small cottage industries,
others with much larger organisations (such as Anokhi). We try to
make regular visits and meet our producers on site and sometimes we
stay in their homes. In addition to this, we are in regular (most
days) email contact with India. From the larger organisations one or
more key people will also occasionally come and visit our offices
in Devon, usually as part of a programme to promote their work or
that of others they work with. The skill and creativity of our
producers is quite exceptional and we believe represents some of the
finest handwork currently available in the contemporary market. Some
of the people we work with are farmers who use textile craft as a
supplement to their main income. During the monsoon season most
production simply comes to a halt as farming takes priority.
Printing becomes difficult as the fabrics do not get a chance to
dry out properly between stages. We have to allow for these factors
when planning production and delivery dates. There are simply too
many people to mention everyone in person, so we have chosen just a
few of the major groups and individuals we work with to explain
their skills and background;
Anokhi
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Our main
garment range and a large proportion of our Block Printed
Interiors collection are labelled as
accacia
rather
than Chandni Chowk. These collections are designed jointly by
the Chandni Chowk (Devon Based) and Anokhi (India based)
design and production teams. We have created the
accacia
label as
a means of expressing this exciting joint venture to our
customers. Anokhi was established in the late 1960’s, with an
aim to combine traditional Indian textile techniques
(primarily hand block printing) with both Western and Indian
design to produce ranges of ethical garments and interiors. The
company is now based on the outskirts of Jaipur, on a 60 acre
farm which they have transformed from a bare piece of land
into a lush green landscape using environmentally friendly
water conservation, re-forestation techniques and organic
farming. It has a design studio and state of the art works
unit as a central base for tailoring, stitching, washing,
checking and packing. The Block Printing is done in a
de-centralised way, with independent printers in charge of
their own units dotted in and around Jaipur. In all, Anokhi
provides a livelihood for more than a thousand people, with
quality of product, design and working conditions being its
highest priorities. To quote the Anokhi web site ‘ethical
conduct and social responsibility characterise our way of
doing business. We strive to be honest, transparent and
trustworthy’. |
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Independent
printer, Hand block printing for Anokhi |
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The Anokhi HQ on the outskirts of Jaipur, India |
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Link to the
Anokhi website |
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Applique Cut Work :
One of our most popular ranges is our Applique collection of cushion
covers. The village
that we work with is a fair trade
co-operative which specialises in the ancient
and skilled art of Appliqueing—stitching shapes of fabric onto a
base fabric to form a pattern. The top layer of fabric is cut to
shape using a hammer and chisel, and then pasted into position on
the main base fabric using a flour and water paste. The edges of the
cut fabric are then turned under and stitched into place by hand.
The village is in a remote tribal area between India and Pakistan,
it is 5 hours drive from Jhodpur (the nearest town) and in a
restricted area. As the village is so remote the local people rarely
get new customers so continued work with companies such as Chandni
Chowk (we have been placing regular orders with them for over 5
years) is vital as a regular source of income.
Aranya Crafts and Ruby Ghuznavi :
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A number of products on our site are referred to as "The Bangladesh
Collection" and these are all ranges made by
Aranya Crafts
in Bangladesh. Set up and run by Ruby Ghuznavi in 1990, the
company's aim was to revive and promote traditional Bangladesh
textiles whilst working in partnership with craftspeople,
guaranteeing them a fair wage and ensuring that they are not
exploited or undervalued. Ruby has worked in craft development since
the mid 70's and revived natural dyes in Bangladesh using
eco-friendly. non-pollutant, indigenous plants to create a range of
30 colourfast dyes. Aranya has trained hundreds of dyers, weavers
and textile artisans and continues to offer free training courses to
artisans and small NGOs across the country. It has also successfully
established the commercial viability of natural dyes and is one of
the foremost organizations specialising in these dyes in the region.
Aranya is a member of the International Federation for Alternative
Trade (IFAT).
The company also specialises in Khadi (handspun and woven fabrics),
including the very finest Khadi voile and Kantha embroidery work,
both of which are featured in the
Chandni Chowk
collections. We have been working with Aranya for the past six
years, usually meeting up with Ruby when she is in the U.K.
promoting the crafts of Bangladesh, in her capacity as
Vice-President, World Crafts Council - Asia Pacific Region. She has
done research on crafts and has published two books.
Rangeen
on natural dyes and
Naksha
on the designs of Bangladesh, as well as several
articles for national and international journals.
We work with Ruby developing our own designs and products based upon
her samples demonstrating traditional Bangladeshi styles, designs
and work techniques, which we then tailor to fit our U.K. market,
tying them in with other
Chandni Chowk
collections while still maintaining the vital essence of Bangladeshi
craftsmanship. |
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Aranya Crafts - Amena Begum’s story :
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There many fascinating stories attached to the Aranya crafts people,
one example of which is Amena Begum’s story;
Amena Begum was widowed, with three young children to raise, at a
very early age. She worked for many years as a domestic help earning
barely enough for her family to survive. In the early '90s she
joined a women's NGO from which point her life changed for the
better. Within a year or two her leadership qualities, coupled with
her excellent embroidery skills, enabled her to mobilise a small
group of rural women to form a cooperative of their own. Amena's
group began working with
Aranya
from 1994; with support services like training, credit and work
orders from Aranya, her group has now expanded to over a hundred
members and become one of
Aranya's
most valued producer groups. Amena's courage and guidance have given
her group's younger members the support they need to help them earn
an independent livelihood in rural Bangladesh - an opportunity she
did not have as a young widow.
It
is women like Amena and their friends who keep the fine craft
traditions of Bangladesh alive today.
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Independent
embroiderer, producing work for Rajka |
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Rajka Ltd :
Chandni Chowk also works with Rajka ltd. This family run company was
established 20 years ago specialising in Hand Embroidery, one of the
major hand craft skills of the desert Kutch region where they are
based in India. Most of the hand embroidery is made by crafts people
who work from home, often in beautiful but isolated villages. This
allows then to maintain regular income whilst continuing their
traditional skills and life style. Their work is then sent to a
central office and tailoring facility on the outskirts of Ahmedabad
where they are finished and packed for export or sale in the Indian
home market. Chandni Chowk has worked with the Rajka for over 7
years, creating our own designs based upon the skills, and style of
the local crafts people combined with design input from the Rajka
team. The final product often has a highly embroidered and yet
distinctly contemporary look. Working with these people helps to
promote and conserve these Indian textile traditions and provides
our customers with a beautiful and hand made product.
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