For 7 amazing years, TAMMACHAT has visited and worked with more
than a dozen weaving co-ops, social enterprises, certified fair trade
businesses and family weaving groups in Thailand and Laos.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to the hundreds of women weavers who welcomed us into
partnership to preserve their artistic and cultural traditions, to
enhance the status of women and to create additional income for rural
families.
Now it's time for a change. Read more...
But first, we invite you to join us for our final big show of 2014 in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia: Oct. 3-5, 2014, during the Great Scarecrow Festival & Antique Show. More details...
Showing posts with label Tammachat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tammachat. Show all posts
Join TAMMACHAT at the Fair Trade Bazaar, May 10-11, 2014 in Halifax, Nova Scotia!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuZoUsCEAu_7Ya91hhKPOlmTln0baZaVvc5IwERK9_6aH4MBBK-iDPjpet5rQQSZWpFlvaURJlczgGannlZUjxqTKNcLj3gpq07FtV0zkqD0l195MuFmGaCTR0cMV0BuLIBaK3f08hbGI/s1600/fair-trade-bazaar-2014-FBcover.jpg)
www.fairtradebazaar.ca
Join us at Nova Scotia’s most unique Fair Trade Bazaar! Come explore the rich and exotic variety of fairly traded goods -- from natural textiles and jewellery to felted carpets and textile art to women's accessories, handbags and home wares. Celebrate Mother's Day and World Fair Trade Day by supporting local Nova Scotian businesses that practice globally conscious trade with cooperatives and other groups in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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Enjoy photos from Thailand, Laos & Burma
Get a taste of our travels through our Facebook Photo Albums (open to all, not just Facebook users):
- Thailand/Laos Trip 2012-13
Follow Ellen's photo journal of this year's trip.
- Burma/Myanmar 2013
And explore this newly opening country with us.
- Buddhist Architecture in Burma
Enjoy a selection of black and white photographs.
- Textile Visits: Thailand, Laos & Myanmar/Burma 2012-2013
Learn about local weaving groups, lotus silk and fair trade.
The Jacket Project: One-of-a-Kind Art Pieces
The Jacket Project brings together TAMMACHAT co-founders Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase with Nova Scotian dressmaker Theresa Eagles to create unique jackets, each a work of art that connects women across the world. Two designs are available at TAMMACHAT's November 2012 shows in Nova Scotia.
For more info, see our original blog post -- The Jacket Project: Local Meets Fair Trade.
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Organic silk jacket, dyed with stick lac, featuring mudmee (ikat) panels and cuffs |
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Organic silk jacket, dyed with stick lac |
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Organic silk jacket in a natural, undyed cream |
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Organic silk jacket, dyed with stick lac, featuring mudmee (ikat) accents. |
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Cotton mudmee design, using a traditional Thai wrap skirt fabric |
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Organic silk jacket in gold, created with coconut husk and undyed yarns |
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Organic silk jacket combining solid fabric, dyed with rosewood, and a subtle earth tone fabric |
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Handspun, organic cotton, dyed with authentic indigo, with mudmee accents |
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Handspun, organic cotton, dyed with authentic indigo, with mudmee accents |
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Handspun, organic cotton, dyed with authentic indigo, with mudmee accents |
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Handspun, organic cotton, dyed with authentic indigo, with mudmee accents |
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TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles
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Thai silk
Slow Fashion that Puts People First
An article in Urban Times by TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles' co-founder Alleson Kase explores TAMMACHAT's approach to fair trade and introduces some of our weaving partners.
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Spinning organic cotton in Thailand |
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Organic silk scarf from Thailand |
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Organic silk scarf from Laos |
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fairly traded
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Fast Food and Slow Fashion
Article by TAMMACHAT co-founder Alleson Kase
First published in The Highland Heart Weekly, June 1, 2012
In the 20th century, corporations devised new ways to part consumers from their money. The fast food industry was designed to serve the most customers in the shortest time at the lowest cost. Fast foods have everything to do with impulse and almost nothing to do with satisfaction. This guarantees that customers keep coming back and those golden arches keep going up. .
Fast fashion is a lot like fast food. It delivers up-to-the minute styles at low prices. Consumers chase trends and, in the long run, spend more for less quality. The world’s resources get chewed up and spat out. And, of course, those fast fashions are made in sweatshops where workers’ health and safety are even worse than their pay.
Clearly, this is a race to the bottom so what’s a consumer to do?
Slow fashion, like the slow food movement, is offering consumers a better choice. Slow fashion means buy less, buy green, buy fair and buy quality. People buy less but get more. Skilled artisans use quality fibres to create authentic clothes that are healthier, more satisfying and longer lasting. The earth’s bounty is preserved and nurtured rather than poisoned and exploited.
TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles is a one of the foremothers of slow fashion, as Just Us! was a pioneer of fair trade coffee. TAMMACHAT, which means “natural” in Thai, is a social enterprise based on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. It is the work of Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase, women who are more interested in people and the planet than profit. They believe that fairly traded textiles can help sustain communities and traditions, while respecting and promoting women’s empowerment, economic justice and a healthy environment.
TAMMACHAT’s naturally dyed silks and cottons combine contemporary styling with traditional skills to create timeless fashion accessories and home décor. Best of all, their textiles are hand-made, fairly traded and environmentally sustainable. Fair trade means buying at a fair price directly from artisan groups that promote skill training and community development. It also means advance payment on orders and long-term commitment to democratic organizations that provide more than an income to their members.
Ellen and Alleson spend several months each year in Thailand and Laos, partnering with rural women’s weaving groups who share with them their indigenous knowledge and techniques. These visits provide them the opportunity to design products for the Canadian market, as well as to better understand the artisans themselves. Most of these women practice these traditional crafts to supplement their income as rice farmers.
Each year Ellen and Alleson also deliver a donation to Big Brother Mouse, a unique publishing venture that creates books by and for Lao students and young adults. For each textile they sell, TAMMACHAT gives a Lao child their first book.
For the stories behind these extraordinary textiles, visit www.tammachat.com or find them on Facebook www.facebook.com/tammachat or Twitter www.twitter.com/tammachat.
TAMMACHAT’s textiles will be available in Antigonish on Saturday, June 16, 2012 from 10am to 5pm at St. James United Church Hall, 197 Main St., Antigonish.
For more great stories like this visit www.thehighlandheart.ca/latest.
First published in The Highland Heart Weekly, June 1, 2012
In the 20th century, corporations devised new ways to part consumers from their money. The fast food industry was designed to serve the most customers in the shortest time at the lowest cost. Fast foods have everything to do with impulse and almost nothing to do with satisfaction. This guarantees that customers keep coming back and those golden arches keep going up. .
Fast fashion is a lot like fast food. It delivers up-to-the minute styles at low prices. Consumers chase trends and, in the long run, spend more for less quality. The world’s resources get chewed up and spat out. And, of course, those fast fashions are made in sweatshops where workers’ health and safety are even worse than their pay.
Clearly, this is a race to the bottom so what’s a consumer to do?
Slow fashion, like the slow food movement, is offering consumers a better choice. Slow fashion means buy less, buy green, buy fair and buy quality. People buy less but get more. Skilled artisans use quality fibres to create authentic clothes that are healthier, more satisfying and longer lasting. The earth’s bounty is preserved and nurtured rather than poisoned and exploited.
TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles is a one of the foremothers of slow fashion, as Just Us! was a pioneer of fair trade coffee. TAMMACHAT, which means “natural” in Thai, is a social enterprise based on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. It is the work of Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase, women who are more interested in people and the planet than profit. They believe that fairly traded textiles can help sustain communities and traditions, while respecting and promoting women’s empowerment, economic justice and a healthy environment.
TAMMACHAT’s naturally dyed silks and cottons combine contemporary styling with traditional skills to create timeless fashion accessories and home décor. Best of all, their textiles are hand-made, fairly traded and environmentally sustainable. Fair trade means buying at a fair price directly from artisan groups that promote skill training and community development. It also means advance payment on orders and long-term commitment to democratic organizations that provide more than an income to their members.
Ellen and Alleson spend several months each year in Thailand and Laos, partnering with rural women’s weaving groups who share with them their indigenous knowledge and techniques. These visits provide them the opportunity to design products for the Canadian market, as well as to better understand the artisans themselves. Most of these women practice these traditional crafts to supplement their income as rice farmers.
Each year Ellen and Alleson also deliver a donation to Big Brother Mouse, a unique publishing venture that creates books by and for Lao students and young adults. For each textile they sell, TAMMACHAT gives a Lao child their first book.
For the stories behind these extraordinary textiles, visit www.tammachat.com or find them on Facebook www.facebook.com/tammachat or Twitter www.twitter.com/tammachat.
TAMMACHAT’s textiles will be available in Antigonish on Saturday, June 16, 2012 from 10am to 5pm at St. James United Church Hall, 197 Main St., Antigonish.
For more great stories like this visit www.thehighlandheart.ca/latest.
Fair Trade Bazaar celebrates World Fair Trade Day and Mother's Day
Read a nice write-up in Halifax's The Coast about our upcoming Fair Trade Bazaar on May 12-13 in Halifax. Visit our event website for details. Co-organized by TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles and Little Foot Yurts.
Participating fair trade businesses:
Participating fair trade businesses:
See you at the Bazaar! Spread the word. Bring friends.
Labels:
African Threads
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World Fair Trade Day
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Zatoun Olive Oil
Warm Heart Creates Eri Silk
Greetings. My name is Eileen Eisele and I am honored to be guest blogging for TAMMACHAT. For the past 3 months our family has been volunteering at Warm Heart, a non-profit based in northern Thailand. I am here with my husband Greg and fairly agreeable 11-year-old daughter Joji. Warm Heart is a community-based NGO that works towards empowering rural Thai villagers through education, health and microenterprise initiatives. I was thrilled to meet Alleson and Ellen on one of their scheduled rounds to collect an order of scarves they placed earlier in the year with the Warm Heart weaving partnership.
Part of my volunteer assignment was to help with marketing materials for the microenterprise program. My background as a photo stylist for catalogs and commercial photo shoots has taught me one thing -- a picture is worth a thousand words. Having no prior knowledge of weaving it was with utter fascination I started documenting the incredibly multilayered process of a hand-loomed textile, from creepy crawly Eri silkworm to sensational silky scarf.
I present to you the story of a Warm Heart scarf.
[Note from Ellen of TAMMACHAT: We are thrilled to get to know and begin to work with Warm Heart, which is doing important work to help children, help reduce poverty and help villagers empower themselves in northern Thailand. We're also thrilled to see younger women carrying on weaving traditions and creating new ones with Eri silk.]
Part of my volunteer assignment was to help with marketing materials for the microenterprise program. My background as a photo stylist for catalogs and commercial photo shoots has taught me one thing -- a picture is worth a thousand words. Having no prior knowledge of weaving it was with utter fascination I started documenting the incredibly multilayered process of a hand-loomed textile, from creepy crawly Eri silkworm to sensational silky scarf.
I present to you the story of a Warm Heart scarf.
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Warm Heart weavers are located at the Warm Heart Children's Home and at the Pa Dang Temple. At the Children's Home, the looms sit under a converted rice barn; upstairs is the children’s library. |
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Eri silkworms munching away on lahoun leaves -- their job: to eat, grow and poop (which, I am told, makes a tasty tea). |
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Soft Eri cocoons in their "cocoon condo." After the cocoon is spun, it is cut open and the pupae released -- to become a moth, lay eggs and die, or be eaten as a tasty fried snack. |
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Soaking the cocoons -- this softens them and removes the stiff seracin so they can be fluffed and spun into threads. |
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A bundle of fluffy Eri silk fibers dries in the sun -- next the fibers will be separated by hand, ready for spinning. |
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Rattana, a nun at the Pa Dang Temple (Wat) spins on a wheel made from a recycled bicycle rim. |
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Mae Joom's experienced hands spin the silk fibers into thread. Eri silk is incredibly unique in that it has the rough texture of a cotton wool mix but the softness of silk. |
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Mae Joom, Warm Heart's head weaver and trainer, prepares the "Deer’s Ears" leaves for the dye bath. |
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Newly dyed strands of Eri silk dry in the sun. The dyeing takes several steps to reach the desired color. In the next step the pink will become dark espresso brown. |
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Cotton and silk threads are wound and ready to be set up on the handloom. TAMMACHAT's Eri silk scarves use traditional Mulberry silk and/or cotton for the warp threads with Eri silk for the weft. |
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The handloom under the rice barn is prepared for the TAMMACHAT order, which takes several weeks to complete. |
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Loom detail -- I was a little obsessed by the beauty of the these hand-built looms, wonders of wood and metal recycling, just gorgeous. |
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Rattana and her assistant work at the loom at the wat, adjusting the warp threads as they weave. |
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Sripan sets up the warp threads on the handloom. This is an important and time consuming step. |
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Ann weaves a TAMMACHAT Moss Green Agate scarf with great concentration. Twelve to 14 scarves in one design are woven at a time. |
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P'Yada holds her daughter Popiya, who was ever present on weaving days. All the weavers helped entertain her while P'Yada worked the loom. |
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Sanom, a PaDang nun displays the subtle cream and espresso Eri silk and cotton TAMMACHAT scarf still on the loom. |
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A shuttle holds Eri silk threads -- the texture is nubbly but oh so soft. It gives the finished scarf a beautiful texture. |
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Loom heddles guide the loom to create the intricate patterns -- I did mention I was obsessed. |
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TAMMACHAT scarves are now finished -- Joom and Moss Green Agate, which is now available online. |
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Coming to a neck near you -- detail of the Ivory and Ebony Eri silk scarf shows the finished espresso brown color. |
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Sripan and me -- they are happy to turn the camera on me for a change. I learned so much from these weavers. |
Labels:
Eri silk
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fair trade
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hand loom
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handloom
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handspun
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microenterprise
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Northern Thailand
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spinning
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Tammachat
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Thailand
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Warm Heart
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weaving
S is for Silk
Rachel Biel, the amazing founder and driving force behind TAFA List (the Textile and Fiber Art List) has been posting fascinating stories about the range of products created by or sold by TAFA members. This site is full of the best textile and fibre art on the web -- it's becoming a real hub for those who love handmade textiles.
- S if for Silk features TAMMACHAT and other TAFA members.
- R is for Rug is the latest posting.
- Visit Featured Products for all the postings. (Hint: They start with Z and work their way through the alphabet backwards!)
Win 1 year of free ads (worth $1000) on TAFA List!
Here's a great chance for you to win 1 year of free ads, worth $1000, to reach textile lovers with your business on the new TAFA List site -- that's The Textile and Fiber Art List, a hub for textile artists and businesses of all kinds. "Advertisers most likely to do well: any related to textiles and fiber art (of course!), art, crafts, women, eco-living, spirituality, health, etsy, technology, website development, design, and all of that good stuff." Go to the TAFA Sponsor page for details.
We've been involved with TAFA List since early days, when it was a discussion forum for individual fibre artists and businesses like TAMMACHAT. What we love is how it's grown over the years and how Rachel Biel, the driving force -- and visionary -- behind TAFA List has included fair trade businesses like ours in her vision. That vision: to provide a place online for a business community of entrepreneurs rooted in textile and fiber art products and traditions. TAFA's site says: "A majority of our members have social and environmental agendas at the core of their business. TAFA unites old and new traditions, their historical and modern importance, giving a shared platform to both contemporary and traditional textile techniques from all cultures." We love this inclusivity! Visit TAMMACHAT's TAFA List page.
If you're a fibre artist (fiber artist!), consider joining for a one-time fee of only $75. If you're a business that wants to reach a fibre- and textile-interested market, become a sponsor for a very reasonable price. And maybe you'll be the lucky one to win 1 year of free ads on TAFA List!
We've been involved with TAFA List since early days, when it was a discussion forum for individual fibre artists and businesses like TAMMACHAT. What we love is how it's grown over the years and how Rachel Biel, the driving force -- and visionary -- behind TAFA List has included fair trade businesses like ours in her vision. That vision: to provide a place online for a business community of entrepreneurs rooted in textile and fiber art products and traditions. TAFA's site says: "A majority of our members have social and environmental agendas at the core of their business. TAFA unites old and new traditions, their historical and modern importance, giving a shared platform to both contemporary and traditional textile techniques from all cultures." We love this inclusivity! Visit TAMMACHAT's TAFA List page.
If you're a fibre artist (fiber artist!), consider joining for a one-time fee of only $75. If you're a business that wants to reach a fibre- and textile-interested market, become a sponsor for a very reasonable price. And maybe you'll be the lucky one to win 1 year of free ads on TAFA List!
Labels:
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TAFA
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TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles
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textiles
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The Textile and Fiber Arts List
Is TAMMACHAT a charity?
We’re often asked if TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles is a charity. And if not, why not? Our answer is that we are a social enterprise: a venture that uses market-based strategies to achieve a social purpose, whose bottom line is to benefit people and the planet rather than to maximize profit.
The artisan groups that create our products are also social enterprises. They provide more than income to their participants. Many were formed in the era of empowering women through self‑help groups. They often provide environmental awareness through training in natural dyes and composting methods, numeracy skills and micro-credit, consciousness raising and Tleadership opportunities.
From the beginning, the weaving groups with whom we partner have told us that to continue their work they need to expand their sales, especially into markets they otherwise could not access. They want trade, not aid. Our chance meeting with the first artisan group led us to understand their achievements and barriers, which in turn prompted us to create a fair trade business to help them achieve their goals.
By paying fair prices, shouldering the cost (and risk) of credit and applying our skill sets to their marketing problems, we are empowering women to sustain their families, communities and environments. Just as important to us, is the fact that we are assisting women to continue their beautiful weaving traditions. We view our work as a passion project; our passion drives us on, in spite of the challenging economic realities that we, too, face in the marketplace.
At the same time, we recognize the value of charitable giving – both to mitigate disasters and to give those in need a hand up. Understandably, we make donations to organizations that share our values and inspire our generosity. These include:
Ellen and Alleson
The artisan groups that create our products are also social enterprises. They provide more than income to their participants. Many were formed in the era of empowering women through self‑help groups. They often provide environmental awareness through training in natural dyes and composting methods, numeracy skills and micro-credit, consciousness raising and Tleadership opportunities.
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A village-based Eri silk rearing and weaving group in Central Thailand |
From the beginning, the weaving groups with whom we partner have told us that to continue their work they need to expand their sales, especially into markets they otherwise could not access. They want trade, not aid. Our chance meeting with the first artisan group led us to understand their achievements and barriers, which in turn prompted us to create a fair trade business to help them achieve their goals.
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A "train-the-trainer" workshop with Prae Pan Group in NE Thailand |
By paying fair prices, shouldering the cost (and risk) of credit and applying our skill sets to their marketing problems, we are empowering women to sustain their families, communities and environments. Just as important to us, is the fact that we are assisting women to continue their beautiful weaving traditions. We view our work as a passion project; our passion drives us on, in spite of the challenging economic realities that we, too, face in the marketplace.
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A weaver at the Houey Hong Vocational Training Centre in Laos |
At the same time, we recognize the value of charitable giving – both to mitigate disasters and to give those in need a hand up. Understandably, we make donations to organizations that share our values and inspire our generosity. These include:
- Books for kids in Laos:
We support the work of Big Brother Mouse, a vibrant book publishing venture in Laos that brings highly illustrated books to children to make literacy fun. For each textile we sell, we donate a book to a child in Laos through this project. More about Big Brother Mouse in our blog post of Jan. 4, 2012.
- Flood relief to help women in Thailand:
Following this year’s devastating floods in Thailand (the worst in 50 years), we decided to donate 10% of our sales from our November 2011 shows to help women affected by the floods. This donation went to Homenet Thailand (now known as Foundation for Labour and Employment Promotion), which supports home-based women workers and others in the informal sector. (More on this in a coming blog post.)
- Alice Housing silent auction and other fundraising events:
We regularly donate a handwoven textile to the annual fundraising event to support abused women and children in Alice Housing, a transition house in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We also support various other organizations in our community with similar donations.
- Assisting displaced peoples from Burma:
Many displaced peoples – whose villages have been destroyed by the Burmese Army – suffer from inadequate housing during the cold weather months. This year we realized that we could use our checked luggage allowance to address this need. With help from neighbours and friends in Nova Scotia, we gathered donations of blankets and warm clothing. These went in early December to those in need, including many children, through a relief organization, the Displaced Persons Response Network, we met that works in the borderlands of Burma and Thailand.
Ellen and Alleson
Labels:
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TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles