Artisan advocate and fashion designer Kavita Parmar wants you to know that “heritage is the new luxury.” In collaboration with Marcella Echavarria, she’s curating a folk art market called XTANT in Mallorca. Presented as part market, part hands-on workshops, part art installation and celebration, Kavitat tells us how XTANT will bridge heritage and luxury.
Meet Ramzia Khorami and Maryam Omar, two vanguards bringing Afghan jewellery and Silk Road-era crafts to the contemporary global marketplace. Ramzia handcrafts Afghan jewellery using traditional techniques. Maryam manages Turquoise Mountain’s Design Center (listen to the previous episode featuring the organization). This is a rare opportunity to hear about the country’s burgeoning crafts and design sector directly from Afghan women.
According to Shoshana Stewart, CEO of Turquoise Mountain, the cornerstones of sustainable craft business are energy, beauty and pride—terms not often emphasised in development work. In this episode we go to Afghanistan, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, taking ‘roads less travelled’ to see how Turquoise Mountain harnesses master artisan skills and launches a new generation of craft business.
In Ritoma, a small village in the breathtaking grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau, we meet Kim and Dechen Yeshi. The mother-daughter duo began an ambitious project that brings together a rare fiber called yak khullu, an uncompromising aesthetic and a commitment to uphold the ancestral nomadic traditions of the Tibetan Plateau. You’ll hear how Kim and Dechen started Norlha, a social enterprise and weaving atelier where local nomads weave textiles using yak khullu, or yak wool that is on par with cashmere.
Phou Tai communities in southern Laos are skilled cotton farmers and master Ikat weavers. Although Ikat can be done in many ways, in Laos we use the resist dye technique. Follow the thread as we look into the intricacies of this amazing weaving technique.
How do you introduce ‘start-up’, entrepreneurial thinking to a 400-year old artisan community? In Bagru, the hub of Rajasthani block printing, Jeremy Fritzhand tells us that a start-up mindset is critical to growing the industry and “putting creative power back in the hands of the artisans.” In this episode of Radio Ock Pop Tok, Jeremy discusses he and a group of forward-thinking women, along with the help of the Cultural Intellectual Property Rights Initiative (CIPRI) joined forces to start Mahila Print, a new way of protecting and licensing indigenous designs.
Meet Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez, founder of the Centre for Traditional Textiles of Cusco and champion of Quechua textiles. In this episode of Radio Ock Pop Tok, she recalls her childhood spent herding sheep and shares thoughts on what lies ahead for Quechua textiles and the indiegnous peoples of the Peruvian Andes. A creative innovator, Nilda believes the path to a sustainable future lies begins with a journey to the past.
Meet ecotourism pioneer and sustainable entrepreneur Inthy Deuansavanh. How did a man born in Vieng Xay cave while Laos’ revolutionary forces were fighting for independence end up unlocking Laos’ impressive potential for sustainable adventure travel? In a country with limited resources, Inthy’s creative adventure travel experiences are nothing short of epic. Let’s head into the Lao wilderness and delve into the mind of a pioneering and fearless adventure traveller.
You’re a designer and you’re looking for artisans to bring your designs to life? You knocked on the right door! Here’s the good news: we also work on custom orders! Send us an email on [email protected] and let us tell your story!
This is the story of Paa Vanhthong. A story that thousands of weavers in Laos share. In Ban Nayang Tai, three hours north of Luang Prabang, Paa Vanhthong’s busy days run into each other. From dawn to dusk.
Ever wondered what it is like, travelling off the beaten track in Laos looking for the most beautiful textiles? Our Village Weavers Project often takes us to isolated villages. Tag along as we travel from Luang Prabang to Bam Puim in the Houaphan Province.
Cultural intellectual property rights are a complex issue. Cultural intellectual property and fashion attorney and founder of the Cultural Intellectual Property Rights Initiative (CIPRI), Monica Moisin joins the broadcast to explain the colonial roots of fashion and the importance of protecting the traditional knowledge, designs and traditional manufacturing methods.
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