Blog - Karakorum

November 17, 2017May 1, 2018

Gone Rural – These baskets are all heart!

‘Preserving the past, understanding the present and pioneering the future’.

– Jenny Thorne

The addition of Gone Rural to my product line was a little bit of a no-brainer. I came across them when I was looking into Swazi candles because they are also founding members of SWIFT (Swaziland Fair Trade) and I was immediately blown away by how beautiful and well made they were.

Add to that they a) have an amazing ethos b) use sustainable materials and c) and have done many wonderful things for the nearby communities in Swaziland.

5 great reasons to choose to work with them without even having to look hard. As I said – a no-brainer.

Founded with a vision to empower women in some of the most remote areas of Swaziland, Gone Rural has evolved into a Handcraft company and design brand that uses creativity to ignite change on a community level. Gone Rural today is a role model in social enterprise in world-class handcraft, while also addressing wider community needs by running health and education programs for their artisans and communities.

Gone Rural’s roots began in a thatched mud hut in the 1970s. Here their founder Jenny Thorne, ran a small craft shop called Tishweshwe, selling handmade clothes, accessories and anti-apartheid literature. As the business grew, sprouting two other retail outlets across Swaziland, Jenny was inspired to focus on hand-woven products and ventured into the mountains, where the Lutindzi grass grows wild and abundant. Her vision? To give Swazi women independence: a voice. And so, in 1992, Gone Rural was born.

Fast forward twenty years and Gone Rural is now working with over 770 artisans in 53 communities across the country and selling those women’s products to retailers around the world.

Gone Rural is constantly reinventing the traditional weaving techniques and revolutionising the world-view of African handcraft. Their products range from functional homeware to gallery pieces, with natural and recycled materials and
innovative contemporary designs. Inspired by the lutindzi grass (a highly sustainable yet strong material) of the mountains of Swaziland and the female leaders of rural communities, Gone Rural transforms the indigenous art of weaving into high-quality products that are showcased and loved all over the world.

To go back to how they help the communities around them – they have a program called BoMake, (meaning ‘women’ or ‘mothers’ in Siswati). Gone Rural established it to bring health clinics, clean water and a school bursary fee program, among other social needs, to impact to more than 20,000 community members. In addition to all this, they have empowerment programs that educate the women on their basic human rights, micro-enterprise and business literacy. They also have social workshops on gender-based violence and victim support. All of this in a country where up until 2006 women had a legal status of minors, and a vast majority (as much as two-thirds of the female population) face abuse.

What an absolutely inspirational company with beautiful and innovative handicrafts!

Shop now.

https://www.goneruralswazi.com/
http://tdsblog.com/gone-rural-swaziland-feel-good-decor/
http://www.irinnews.org/news/2007/09/17/two-thirds-women-beaten-and-abused

July 3, 2017May 1, 2018

Swazi candles – the first step

I first came across Swazi candles as a kid going on summer holidays with my parents and I have been in love with them ever since. I have since been back to their factory in Swaziland whenever we were passing (normally on the way to or from Mozambique) and have had their candles sitting in my bathroom in the UK for years garnering many interested comments.

Therefore I am excited to have the chance to work with Swazi candles as my first product! As a founding member of SWIFT (Swaziland Fair Trade Association) they are the perfect company for me to start with.

Their history:

Swazi Candles was started in an old cowshed of a former dairy in 1982 by 2 South African art graduates. In those days The Kingdom of Swaziland was a haven of peace amidst troubled countries and proved to be an excellent place for setting up a Cottage Craft industry. The mountainous countryside was beautiful, the Swazi people were warm and friendly and proved to be ideal partners for our industry.

The little workshop soon gained a reputation for producing unique candles and started attracting visitors. The vibrancy of the workshop, uniqueness of the product and the skill of the artisans resulted in Swazi Candles becoming one of Swaziland’s premier tourist attractions. By the mid nineties the humble cowshed workshop had burgeoned into an industry that employed over 200 local people and exported candles all over the world.

The Art of Millifiore

The beautifully intricate designs of Swazi Candles use the ancient technique known as “millifiore”. Millefiore, or, “thousand flowers”, first surfaced in Alexandria, but was perfected in the great glass making cities of Murano and Venice. Glass beads and other objects created there were of such beauty and finesse that they became much sought-after, valuable artifacts.

On the Africa coast, these Venetian trade beads were used as a form of currency to barter for gold and ivory. So popular did they prove that the North and West Africans came to make their own variation. Thus was born the African trade bead, rare and sought after by collectors to this day.

The art of millefiore continues in Swazi Candles. But instead of glass, the gifted candle makers of Swaziland use a special hard wax to create their colourful designs. The hard wax veneer forms the outer shell of the candle, which hardly melts when the candle is lit. Hence the rich, romantic glow of the illuminated exterior as the candle burns deeper into the container lighting up the casing. The shells of the larger can still be used even after the original inside wax is gone when refitted with a votive or tea candle.

I hope that you enjoy Swazi candles as much as I do!

Shop now.

June 26, 2017May 1, 2018

How it all began…

I grew up in South Africa – a beautiful country with so much to offer. Except to me (at that time) it didn’t offer what I really wanted – the ability to travel freely and easily around the world.

So at the tender age of 20 I upped sticks and moved to the UK with the intention of working for a year or two to save money and then back pack around the world. The best laid plans of mice and (wo)men…

Eventually I did get to travel though. Somewhat differently and later then I expected but indeed did I travel! In 2013 I set out on bicycle with my partner with the vague plan of heading East and seeing how far we got.

Almost 2 years and over 20,000 km’s later we arrived at our final destination – Thailand, (you can read about our trip here). It had been a life changing experience and one that I would never change for the world! Now that we were back however I began to wonder ‘What next?’.

It seemed obvious that I should combine my true loves.

Beautiful crafts – Growing up in South Africa I have always been surrounded by amazing hand made goods from wire and bead work to woodcarving and painting. It helped that my mother was an artist too!
Travel – I would always gravitate to the markets on our travels, and much to my partners disgust I would normally walk away with some small (mostly!) memento from our travels. Although he drew the line at getting a Shyrdak from Kyrgyzstan – I’m not sure how we would have traveled with a large felt rug on our bicycles!

Kyrgyz Shyrdak — The beautiful Shyrdaks from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

But it’s not all about me. Sure, I want to make a living, but more importantly I want to make a living that isn’t at the expense of others or the environment. We live in a world of fast and cheap fashion with people thinking very little about how or where things are made or what happens to it when they are done with it. And trying to change peoples outlook on this is another one of my passions.

So that is how I decided what I wanted to do next. Use my experiences from the markets of carpet sellers in Iran, and the scarf weavers in Laos and the bustling hawkers on the street corners of South Africa and bring all the amazing crafts from around the world together in one space. A space defined by it’s ethics as much as its beauty. And so Karakorum was born.

I hope you join me on my travels along the still existing and still mysterious trade routes of the world.

Unusual persian carpet — I did however get a carpet in Iran!