Baby comforters hand made in a  beautiful traditional crochet stitch in cotton with a cute pixie head.  A lovely little comforter for babies to hold, play with a chew. These Pixie doudou comforters will make great gifts for a newborn baby and they’re bound to be loved for years to come!  

 

Made by Hathay Bunano an organisation that offers Fairly paid, high quality employment for women in rural Bangladesh. Hathay Bunano seeks to strengthen rural communities in Bangladesh by creating employment for women which is good quality, fairly paid, flexible and local; work which fits in with the rhythm of village life. Whilst the rural production centres are open all day, the women choose their hours of work to fit in with their other family commitments. It's a model which is helping to prevent early marriage and keep families together.

 

The Chilote House Shoe’s 

highly innovative low-tech manufacturing and aesthetics appeal to conscious consumers those that expect highly responsible ethical production and useful and beautiful products. It uses free-range Patagonian sheep wool and repurposed and up-cycled salmon leather combined with skilled local craftsmanship to make a simple comfortable and beautiful product. The simplicity of the design is inspired by the amazing qualities of the materials used.

This extremely comfortable Chilote House Shoe is made by hand in Patagonia, redefines the concept of conscious consumption. It is the result of the synergy created by three valuable assets; guided skilled craftsmanship, renewable materials, and an ethical and inclusive design thinking process.

Each pair of Chilotes is geo-tagged with a QR code. When scanned, the code leads to a mini-site that shows personal and geographical information of the actual artisans that crafted that piece.

  

Monkeybiz artworks are pricey by comparison with mass-produced pieces. But the premium covers much more than the superior quality and individual expression of each unique artwork. Buyers know that they are also providing fair compensation to the artist, and that any additional profit is not for middlemen, but for desperately needed community services.

Monkey Biz is inspirational and we could really learn something from this beautiful company that uses their art to make a difference.

Raku,a Japanese method of firing is the inspiration behind the production of this unique, African pottery.

Starting as a small craft operation, in a small town in the Cape Province of South Africa today the production of this Raku Pottery employs over 45 people. 

First a solid model is made by the designer. A master mould is then made from this original model and this is used for production. After the items are taken from the mould, excess clay is removed and the items are smoothed. A pattern is then etched into the wet clay. The first firing, also called the bisque firing, is done in an electric kiln at a temperature of 1000°C. It takes place once the clay has dried out sufficiently. Once the first firing has taken place the items are known as bisque ware. The painters then hand-paint the bisque ware with Raku glaze and small brushes. Each item is  fired again this time in a  Raku kiln. While the items are still red hot, the kiln cover is removed. the red hot clay body comes into contact with the much colder air around it and the glaze cracks as a result. The still-hot items are transferred to a drum of sawdust. The Raku items smoulder in the sawdust and the resulting smoke penetrates the fine cracks  in the glaze. The cracks become black as a result of this process. and this gives each piece of pottery its distinctive and unique appearance.