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Artisans
Basha
Basha is a young Fairtrade organisation in Dhaka and Mymensing, Bangladesh. Its aim is to support underprivileged women in finding dignified employment. Basha's vision is to continue to grow as long as there are women in the country in need of a proper job. At present around fifty women are employed with Basha.
Basha provides training to women who wish to further develop their skills. Upon completion the women can start in Basha’s workshop. They are given a fair salary and work normal hours in a safe and healthy work environment.
Women working with Basha
Besides receiving a salary, the women share in Basha’s profits and follow courses on saving. Basha provides its employees with health insurance and councelling. Children are cared for in day nursery while their mothers are at work. The elder children receive funding to attend school.
Through this particular way of supporting women Basha also tries to break a vicious cycle. By enabling these mothers’ children to break away from exploitation.
The women at Basha make beautiful silk and cotton kantha scarves. Kantha is the most popular form of traditional craftmanship among Bengali people. Women use vintage saris and choose contrasting fabrics to create their one-of-a-kind pieces.
Every scarf is unique and authentic, made by hand and easily recognisable because of its splendid colours and, typical kantha, small patches and straight, even stitches.
View the scarves made by the women of Basha.
Artisans at work
Creating a kantha silk scarf
[Credits photos: Basha]
Arghand
The Arghand cooperative in Kandahar was founded in May 2005 by Sarah Chayes who lives in Afghanistan and spends most her time between Kabul and Kandahar. More about Arghand
Artisans from Myanmar
Myanmar has a strong tradition of weaving. Its many artisans have been long making the most beautiful handwoven silk fabrics and are also well known for their complex handwoven tribal cottons. More about Artisans from Myanmar
Atis Fanm Matènwa
Atis Fanm consists of a group of women from Matènwa, a rural village in the mountains of la Gonave, an island off the coast of Haiti. More about Atis Fanm Matènwa
Caserita
Caserita works in a spirit of cooperation with their partners based on the principles of equity and solidarity that help improve quality of life for the artisans. More about Caserita
Cathy Ulos
Cathy lives at Sumatra, Indonesia. Ze has a little shop where she sells drinks and snacks and when it is quit she weaves scarves. Every scarf she makes is different. More about Cathy Ulos
Craft Village
Craft Village supports weaving families in the countryside of Cambodia by ordering and selling handwoven scarves and shawls. More about Craft Village
Equitable Marketing Association
The Equitable Marketing Association (EMA) is a fair trade organisation in the province West Bengal in the northeast of India. EMA was established in 1977 at the initiative of seven cooperatives. More about Equitable Marketing Association
Karenni artisans in Thailand
The Karen form a large tribal community in Thailand. The majority of the Karen people live in refugee camps in the mountains in the northwest of Thailand. They originate from Myanmar but had to flee f.. More about Karenni artisans in Thailand
Kelzang Wangmo
Many women in Bhutan have learned their excellent weaving skills at a very young age from their mothers. Only few countries show such an amount of exquisite weaving, and still appreciate this form of .. More about Kelzang Wangmo
Kimdo Pashmina
Kimdo Pashmina is an impressive family business in Kathmandu, Nepal. Daya Bir Sing Kanshakar, late father of currect owner Prakash Kanshakar, founded the social enterprise in 1959. The enterprise's go.. More about Kimdo Pashmina
Mulberries
Mulberries is a fair trade organisation in the northeast of Laos. Mulberries was established in 1994 by Kommaly Chanthavong and seeks to create opportunities and income for people in Laos. More about Mulberries
Ny Tanintsika
Ny Tanintsika (literally: Our Land / Our Earth) is a non-governmental organisation working for the conservation of nature in Madagascar. The organisation works together with villagers and farmers from.. More about Ny Tanintsika
Pa Daeng
The Pa Daeng weaving group is a very small group, consisting of six Thai grandmothers. The group was founded ten years ago by Pranorm, a Buddhist nun. More about Pa Daeng
Sabahar
Sabahar is a Fairtrade organisation in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. The organisation’s aim is to offer underprivileged women and men a sustainable income. At present Sabahar employs one hundred and twen.. More about Sabahar
Sana Hastakala
Sana Hastakala (meaning "Small Handicraft") is a nonprofit organisation in Kathmandu. The organisation markets the rich, traditional and artistic craftsmanship of small-scale producers. This way, it h.. More about Sana Hastakala
Village Works
Villageworks Cambodia was established in 2001 as a social enterprise. In 2015 they became certified members of the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO). Village Works takes great pride in carrying the.. More about Village Works
Vinita
Vinita is an artist in her fifties living in the northern part of Thailand. Because being an artist does not pay well, she now earns an income by dyeing silk scarves. More about Vinita
Weavers from Isan province
Some of the artisans that make our scarves we have not met in person. As we do not know their individual story, we refer to those artisans as ‘weavers from Isan Province’ without any further speci.. More about Weavers from Isan province