Increasing Recycled Contents - A Collaborative Approach - Torrian.org and Karen Weavers
Nyla Jano, owner and designer of Torrain.org, a company that designs and sells accessories made from rice bags. Torrain appeals to the creative reuse and upcycled product market while providing a source of income for Cambodian makers. Nyla wanted to increase the recycled contents of her accessories, especially her new US line. I connected her to ideas of other recycled materials and strategic alliances to make this a reality for her. In this search, I was introduced to a group of women weavers here in Portland who are Karen people and refugees from Burma. The act of weavings for these women is therapeutic, culturally affirming, and their products very well done.
To legitimately connect these weavers with a company like Torrain requires exploring the question: Will they weave with recycled materials ? To answer this requires time to be culturally respectful. This connection could provide an additional income for the women and connect them to a conscious company. With the popularity and obvious eco ethic of using recycled materials, I hope to continue to advocate for the use of recycled materials for some of their work to assist in creating a niche for them to increase their income.
It's an honor to work with the complexity of this project, for example, these Karen women have been thrown into a materialistic United States culture that propagandizes manufactured and new goods. Counterbalancing this new culture while uplifting their skills and experiences is a unique opportunity to use my international development education and cultural and artistic sensitivities to respect what weaving means to them. Are they willing to not only alter materials, but designs as well? Will their straps be affordable to Torrain? All of these questions are slowly being answered as the relationship builds. This isn't a fast business decision for the women, this is a question of cultural sustainability as much as it is about therapy and subsistence. It's also an opportunity to show them how special and meaningful their skills can be here in the United States, as well as their experiences has Karen people, and refugees learning to live in the US. Particularly, they are not a wasteful people and that attribute should be maintained if possible - they have something to teach us about creative reuse and respect for materials.
I find symbolism in using cast away materials to remake something valuable. The transmutation of being disconnected and thrown into a far away situation and needing to find ways to recreate your life is applicable to the refugee status. Being able to bring your art to such an unsettling situation and learning to see valuable beauty in what others disregard can be medicinal. Finding those who support that transmutation while valuing a non-westernized perspective is really the special work involved here.
Nyla with Torrain has agreed to be involved and has been a wonderful client to engage with - given that sometimes the most valuable pathway takes time to develop. This is just part of the story and she also has other options and plenty of other recycled content to include in her line. We are both honored to offer our expertise to the project as a whole and the weavers seem as grateful as we are for the opportunity to work together. I'm grateful to have more international people in my life as I volunteer with this group to assist in business processes and designs for selling their work in the US market.
Here is more information about the Karen Weavers from Burma and Torrain. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship through collaborative design, strategic alliances and whole systems thinking.
Thanks very much to their Art Therapist Luba at Lutheran Community Services for being open to this project.
To legitimately connect these weavers with a company like Torrain requires exploring the question: Will they weave with recycled materials ? To answer this requires time to be culturally respectful. This connection could provide an additional income for the women and connect them to a conscious company. With the popularity and obvious eco ethic of using recycled materials, I hope to continue to advocate for the use of recycled materials for some of their work to assist in creating a niche for them to increase their income.
It's an honor to work with the complexity of this project, for example, these Karen women have been thrown into a materialistic United States culture that propagandizes manufactured and new goods. Counterbalancing this new culture while uplifting their skills and experiences is a unique opportunity to use my international development education and cultural and artistic sensitivities to respect what weaving means to them. Are they willing to not only alter materials, but designs as well? Will their straps be affordable to Torrain? All of these questions are slowly being answered as the relationship builds. This isn't a fast business decision for the women, this is a question of cultural sustainability as much as it is about therapy and subsistence. It's also an opportunity to show them how special and meaningful their skills can be here in the United States, as well as their experiences has Karen people, and refugees learning to live in the US. Particularly, they are not a wasteful people and that attribute should be maintained if possible - they have something to teach us about creative reuse and respect for materials.
I find symbolism in using cast away materials to remake something valuable. The transmutation of being disconnected and thrown into a far away situation and needing to find ways to recreate your life is applicable to the refugee status. Being able to bring your art to such an unsettling situation and learning to see valuable beauty in what others disregard can be medicinal. Finding those who support that transmutation while valuing a non-westernized perspective is really the special work involved here.
Nyla with Torrain has agreed to be involved and has been a wonderful client to engage with - given that sometimes the most valuable pathway takes time to develop. This is just part of the story and she also has other options and plenty of other recycled content to include in her line. We are both honored to offer our expertise to the project as a whole and the weavers seem as grateful as we are for the opportunity to work together. I'm grateful to have more international people in my life as I volunteer with this group to assist in business processes and designs for selling their work in the US market.
Here is more information about the Karen Weavers from Burma and Torrain. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship through collaborative design, strategic alliances and whole systems thinking.
Thanks very much to their Art Therapist Luba at Lutheran Community Services for being open to this project.