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node

connecting design and fair trade

Friday, 28 September 12

We are a non-profit social businessOur aim is to combine great design with great fair trade projects in order to make as much impact for fair trade as we canWe are teaming eighteen well known designers and illustrators with one of Nepal's founding fair trade groups for a collection for the Design Museum shop. We believe that within development, ‘trade not aid’ is the best solution to the poverty trap in the developing world. There are difficult issues in countries where there is no social security. The illiterate, unskilled and disabled are unable to educate their children which results in a cycle that is difficult to escape from. This project is designed to provide work to these people, and schooling to their children.We are very excited by the possibility that design can be used to help in such situations.

node


OUR NGO PARTNER IN NEPALWe produce our rugs with Kumbeshwar Technical School in Kathmandu, Nepal.Kumbeshwar was set up by the Khadgi family who are from the lowest caste in Nepal. The traditional role of this caste is cleaners and waste disposal. They made a fertiliser business from this waste and it grew into a large and profitable business. In 1983 the family set about using their wealth to help the rest of their caste out of poverty and set up a weaving school recruiting disadvantaged adults to their adult education and support centre.As well as given fair wages their weavers are taught literacy and skills. They believe education is the way out of poverty. They train adults and with profits from the sales of the rugs support a large school of 260 with well trained and well paid teachers and free books and meals. They also fund an orphanage for 25 children.KTS are a founder member of Fair Trade Nepal and are WFTO accredited.

An ADULT LITERACY + SKILLS TRAINING programme (6,000 graduates)A SCHOOL OF 260AN ORPHANAGE OF 25


PRODUCTION: HAND MADE CRAFTWe produce our carpets entirely by hand using traditional Tibetan carpet making techniques to the highest possible quality. Nepal is well known for its high quality weaving and this project was set up with help from skilled master weavers. All our carpets are made from pure Tibetan wool. The wool is hand spun into thread, hand dyed with natural and non-polluting dyes and then hand-knotted on our looms into carpet. Node have come from a background in digital imaging and we worked closely with all the artists and the weavers to find the best possible ways to convert each artwork into woven rugs.Akshay, Node’s co-founder is based in Nepal and is overseeing production and shipping.


OUR BACKGROUNDChris Haughton is a childrens book author and illustrator who has been working in fair trade for the last 9 years. His books have been translated into more than 14 languages. He was listed in TIME magazine’s DESIGN 100 alongside many of the worlds most influential designers for the work he has been doing for fair trade.In 2010 Chris spent eight months in India and Nepal working with fair trade groups. The projects he developed resonated with people and became popular online, he was featured in Eye Magazine, Fast Company and other publications. He sought the help of Akshay Sthapit a Kathmandu based entrepreneur with a passion for social projects. Together they called themselves NODE with the aim of connecting designers and artists together with craft based social projects.After a successful exhibition in the SO FAR THE FUTURE design gallery on Lambs Conduit St, London, they were stocked by the Design Museum shop and Monoqi and are currently putting together a collection for the museum shop featuring 18 well-known artists each designing one rug. Marcroy Smith, the director of peopleofprint.com has recently joined the team to help co-ordinate this show.
