Archive for category: Geen categorie

Karin from Fair Fabrics recently traveled to Jordan to go through a design thinking program with artisan entrepreneurs. The visit to Jordan leaves you wanting more! What a great country and fantastic and talented artisans.

Netherlands Embassy in Jordan

In collaboration with the Dutch embassy, Souq Fann/Leaders of Tomorrow organized a multi-day training Design Thinking in Jordan. With the help of the Design Thinking process, a step can be taken to enter the international market. Fair Fabrics founder Karin Kandt was therefore asked to design the program as an expert in this field. The entrepreneurs come from different provinces of Jordan. They are without exception very talented, each within their own craft. A good basis to continue working together to take the next step in quality design with the right ingredients.

Personal coaching

In addition to central sessions, in which beautiful examples of Dutch Design were used to inspire the artisans, there were also personal coaching sessions for all 30 participants. During the field visits, several workshops were visited in Jordan. In some cases, a concrete connection has already been made with potential Dutch enthusiastic customers. Fortunately, in addition to the full and intensive program, there was also enough time to get to know the country, its inhabitants and culture better. As far as possible in a week.

We concluded the training with a 1-minute video pitch in which each entrepreneur introduced herself/herself to potential international clients. During the training we worked on 6 personal focus points to work with after the training.

Correctbook

We are very grateful to Social Enterprise NL colleague Correctbook because they ensured that all entrepreneurs received their own Correctbook as a gift. This was of course received with great enthusiasm by both the participants themselves and the children in the family ;-). Because not only the sustainable idea was appreciated. But the idea of giving where necessary, with a healthy business model behind it that inspired the participants, was also embraced.

Shiraka program Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The training was initiated by Leaders of Tomorrow and made possible by the Shiraka program of the Dutch Embassy in Jordan – Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The purpose of Shiraka in Jordan is, among other things, to support building economic growth and stimulating employment.

Project European Union

Leaders of Tomorrow aims to create a society of young, well-educated, critical and entrepreneurial leaders who are able to creatively serve their society. One of the successful projects is the e-commerce platform Souq Fann. This platform, financed by the European Union, offers assistance to artisanal entrepreneurs in the field of marketing and logistics. This allows them to grow their business and develop their skills. While customers around the world can also take a look at Jordan’s rich history and culture.

We can hardly believe it ourselves, Fair Fabrics turned 10 today!

The first visit to a weaving cooperative in the Moroccan Atlas mountains has been the great start of realizing our dreams; growing together in entrepreneurship by stimulating the local economy in our production countries in a fair way.

It didn’t all go smoothly, but that’s not what we do it for either. The most important thing is that we make as much impact as possible. We want to build a lasting bond with the makers. For example, we develop new interior products, the studios produce at a fair price and we help the makers in the field of entrepreneurship and professionalization.

Language and cultural differences make international business extra adventurous. That sometimes means that you don’t necessarily solve complicated dilemmas in the most businesslike way, but that’s why we are a social enterprise; profit is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve our mission.

And yes, we also have many ups and downs. We will spare you, much rather we look to the future where there is still a lot of fair profit to be made. In the coming period we will try to be an even greater stable factor for many of our workshops, which do not have an easy time under the circumstances of Covid-19, among others. Many studios have hardly any income with the loss of tourism, so our mission is perhaps even more current than 10 years ago.

There are many beautiful projects in the pipeline and actually do not even have the time to dwell on this beautiful milestone.

We would like to celebrate our anniversary together, which is why we have come up with various beautiful and appropriate promotions during our anniversary year. November 1st we will start with the very first anniversary promotion of 10 years of Fair Fabrics. More coming soon!

Commissioned by our client NRC, we designed a rug and cushion set and had it made in two specialist workshops in respectively Tunisia and Morocco. Both products are made in a small, numbered edition and are exclusively for sale in the NRC webwinkel from Saturday 29 May.

Would you also like to have an article made by Fair Fabrics? Check out our “corporate” page or click here.

     

The rugs are handcrafted by the members of a women’s cooperative in a small mountain village in northern Tunisia. The weavers’ many years of experience ensures tight weaving, creating a rug of high quality. All affiliated women are now working together on the growth and professionalization of their studio. All rugs are provided with a label with the name of the maker.

Rugs create the atmosphere in the house and offer a lot of extra comfort. They improve the acoustics, make the interior personal and insulate in both summer and winter. This specific pattern has already been used for another rug. Especially for the NRC, Fair Fabrics had the rug made in a different color composition in a handy format, so that it fits in several places in the house.

The combination of old techniques with this contemporary pattern gives your interior a pleasant atmosphere and is a real eye-catcher. Rugs are very nice for the layout of your living space. You can break a large space with it, while a small space with a rug gets depth and thus appears larger.

The cushions are handmade by a weaving cooperative in Central Morocco. The cooperative supports homeless and problem youth from the immediate vicinity through its own studio. By learning a trade, they offer these people a new perspective for the future. The weavers have years of weaving experience and only use high-quality materials. All cushion covers are labeled with the maker’s name and uniquely numbered.

With new cushions you can personalize your interior in a stylish way with a small gesture. The designer has made a combination of traditional technology and local craftsmanship, in a contemporary design. The cushions each have their own design and together form a tasteful whole. They are lined on the inside and have a double zipper at the back.

Both articles were developed in collaboration with the Dutch designer Willemiek van Kuijlenborg.

Link to the rugs, link to the cushions

We took some of the above photos in Gallery Untitled in Rotterdam.

The white chair in the photos is by the Dutch designer Floris Hovers, from the SOO furniture collection.

For the packaging we have used recycled tubes from SCRAP XL.

Our logistics processes are carried out by Onze Zaak, a sheltered workplace that helps people with intellectual disabilities and people at a distance from the labor market find daily work. https://www.onze-zaak.org

Would you also like to have an article made by Fair Fabrics? Check out our “corporate” page or click here.