Things were going smoothly, and, seeing that we were apparently trying to swim against the tide of progress, it was looking all too easy to accomplish. Then quite suddenly, and with little explanation, the guys we were working with to develop the natural dyes said they didn’t want to carry on. [...more]
From the beginning there were three things that all the Nepalese rug makers we spoke to were at pains to let us know: they can make rugs quickly, they can match any colour, and they can make rugs cheaper than their competitors. These are the three main things that most western rug importers want to know about.
Traditional Tibetan rugs (as they are known, although in reality these rugs were made all over the Himalaya) used to last generations.[...more]
Picture this: a beautiful mountainous land, fertile and green from abundant rivers filled with crystal clear snowmelt, clean high-altitude air, and very happy healthy people. This is the shangri-la everyone goes to Nepal to experience. [...more]
Enter the magical world of natural plant colour. The colours of nature are all around us: plants, flowers, animals, the sky; but it’s notoriously difficult to get those colours onto anything without a lot of time, effort and elaborate processing that may or may not include poisoning everything around you. [...more]
I’ve just re-read the ‘Labels Round 1’ post, and apart from being a little surprised that I wrote it so very long ago (the day job and life in general having taken a busy turn), I’m pleased to say that we’ve now sorted the labelling out. We’ve negotiated the price, done a test design, and are waiting for our sample labels to arrive. [...more]
Well, of all the people I expected to be railing against, I’m as surprised as you no doubt are to find that the first people to appear in my sights are the Fairtrade Foundation. I am writing this post on Fairtrade very carefully, (at least it starts out that way), because, although we’ve pretty much decided that Fairtrade (as in the foundation, not the concept) [...more]
Whilst waiting for some product samples to arrive, I started looking at labelling – we’ll need some. As a way of branding they cannot be surpassed: an instant reminder of who made your stuff. Labelling must also be the least invasive and most cost effective form of advertising there is, and we all know everything needs some advertising – from the [...more]
When you’re witnessing your world going slowly but surely down the tubes, and big business doing its best to keep the deadly status quo, (the recent bail out of the motor industry in the same week as the UK govt encouraged everyone to opt for electric cars springs to mind), it’s fairly easy to [...more]
After some consideration (although it must be said – not long consideration), we’ve agreed not to rely on the ‘carbon-offset’ options offered by any of the growing eco services, as its difficult to really understand what they are all about. Some are possibly good, others are [...more]
We’ve decided to be really transparent, and to use this blog to document the trials and tribulations, discoveries and joys of establishing an ethical start-up. We’ll use it as our sounding board where we investigate the options, debate the ethics of one approach over another, and where [...more]