If an average rug takes about 3 weeks to weave, you can imagine that the production of a few dozen rugs will take some time. If you want to make more impact, scaling up can help. How to handle? And how do you maintain personal contact and direct involvement with the artisans?
We have the express wish to work as much as possible with small workshops, because that is where we can make the most impact. The families, and sometimes also the immediate environment, all benefit from the income of the weaving workshops where mainly women work. In addition to their work in the craft workshops, they keep the family going. Most workshops are not located in the big tourist cities but in rural mountain areas that are sometimes difficult to reach due to bad roads and extreme weather conditions.
Photocredits: Moncef Ben Rejeb
In order to meet the demands of our customers and to maintain our core values, we recently started local collaborations between several trade workshops. That means jointly purchasing wool and distributing it over the various workshops and thus achieving a larger production together.
Photocredits: Moncef Ben Rejeb
All workshops work in their own way and that is why intensive consultation and coordination are now taking place between the workshops. Just as special as we think it is that we go through the production process together with all 5 workshops, it offers the cooperatives so many opportunities to grow, learn from each other and further professionalize.
Photocredits: Jenae Somedays for TBE, all rights reserved