all things lovely and fair

Very excited as I've just received my new hand-bag via the Little Tree shop (http://www.littletreeshop.com.au). The hand-bag is made by a little company called Sari Bari based out of India.  See a full description below. I was taken back by the label stitched on the inside naming the woman who actually made my bag. It's strange how just seeing a name actually makes you feel more attached to the product. This is a lovely practice that I hope will become more common place. So, thank you Mutki somewhere in India. I love the bag and hopefully this post will give you some more business.


 

This Sari Bari bag is a high quality, inner-zipped and durable bag for every occasion. Each bag is unique and hand-made by a woman from the red light district in Kolkata, India. Made using recycled sari material.

Sari Bari is investing in the lives of our friends and partners, the women in the red light areas of Kolkata and young women at-risk in outlying villages, for a new life in the making. 

Each Sari Bari bags are sewn using the traditional kantha stitch. Each Sari Bari product is unique—there are no two pieces exactly alike. Additionally, each woman has her own personal style and stitch, which means each piece varies slightly, within the quality standards of Sari Bari. Each piece is an investment of time, skill, creativity and patience. In the final step, the woman stitches her name tag onto the finished product, marking its completion as a work of art and the pride with which she sends it out for the Sari Bari customer to enjoy.  

“Kantha has traditionally provided women with space and time of their own with which they created this extraordinary art-form. It is an exclusively woman’s activity where they can interact with other women and gain a sense of self.”—Jasleen Dhamija, from the Craft Council of India