Khaled Hosseini Foundation awards grant to GoodWeave

GoodWeave aims to replicate the work it does in India and Nepal and take children out of the rug industry, where they are often forced to work in bonded labour and can suffer sexual exploitation, and provide them with an education and financial support and break the vicious cycle of poverty and exploitation.

The Kite Runner tells of Amir, born into a relatively well off family, who is brought up with Hassan, the son of his father’s servant, and who abandons his friend at a critical point in their childhood and who is tormented by the guilt
thereafter. For those of us who have never visited Afghanistan, the book provides a revealing insight into daily life set against the backdrop of the fall of the monarchy, the Soviet invasion, refugees feeling the country and the arrival of the Taliban regime. Absolutely fascinating and heart-wrenching.

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and he and his family were given political asylum in USA in 1980; he went on to study and practise medicine whilst establishing his writing career. He set up The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a charity, which supports projects which provide shelter to refugee families and economic and education opportunities and healthcare for women and children – GoodWeave’s project is a perfect fit and the grant will have a major impact.

A statement from The Khaled Hosseini Foundation highlights the fundamental work GoodWeave is doing: “We truly appreciate the commitment exhibited by GoodWeave to end child labor in the handmade rug industry and to provide educational opportunities to South Asia’s “carpet kids” and are particularly pleased to be able to support their work to prevent child labour and trafficking in Balk Province, Afghanistan. Our grant will support GoodWeave’s educational program, which will include a combination of early childhood education, rehabilitation for former child labourers, vocational education and school sponsorship for at-risk kids in Balk Province, Afghanistan”.

Near & Far

The work of Cornish- born artist Pip Benveniste (1921- 2010) has been turned into a major new rug collection by the newly created rug company Land Rugs.  Her work was influenced by the landscape around her and the culture and teachings of the Dalai Lama, and it therefore seems entirely appropriate that her abstract and bold designs are being hand-knotted  in Kathmandu, Nepal  and are certified with the GoodWeave ethical label.

Pip Benviste was born in 1921 into the artist’s colony in Newlyn and went on to become a painter, printmaker, photographer, rug designer and film-maker.  A Modernist, her work was regularly exhibited during her life and she had a small number of rugs woven in India before she died– a project dear to her heart.  Since then, her son Mark Vaughan has formed Land Rugs and commissioned Nepalese artisan weavers to hand-knot an extensive collection of her designs.

For those interested there is to be an official, invitation only launch on Sunday 27^th  May at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol – to request tickets you can contact info@landrugs.com

Making rugs at the Ariana company in Afghanistan

Many will have heard of traditional ‘Tribal Rugs’ from Afghanistan made by one of the nomadic tribes such as the Turkoman or Baluchi, others may have come across the term ‘War Rugs’ , a genre of rug which incorporates images of guns, tanks  and other military equipment – a style first attributed to the artist Alghiero Boetti in the 1960′s and inspired by the turmoil of Afghanistan. Whilst they could not be more different in style, both are part of a long history of rugs associated with this area of the world.

Today, the rug sector of Afghanistan is the country’s largest legal employer in a country where 40% or more of the population is unemployed. However, there are issues as according to UNICEF one third of all children of elementary school age are forced to work and many are sold into bonded slave labour.

This is why GoodWeave has set up a pilot scheme in Afghanistan to see if it can help promote the country’s rugs and grow its international markets whilst reducing child labour and putting more adults back into work. Quite a challenge. The Goodweave scheme is being run by Fazel Wazit, the Afghanistan country director, who previously worked for the Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan and who is charged with establishing inspection and monitoring programmes similar to those operating in Nepal and India. It is hoped that GoodWeave certified rugs could be available by late 2012 as reported progress is positive.

Here are a few excerpts:

“Do interior designers and architects enquire about or pay any attention to the manufacturing methods of the paints, wallpapers, lighting or rugs they specify, and if they don’t, is it right for the manufacturers to carry on ignoring the social and environmental harm caused, because they think their customer base isn’t interested?

Some of the examples are shocking: the luxury rugs hand-woven by children with “nimble fingers”, aged eight, working sixteen hours or more a day, poorly fed, ill and uneducated; the prestigious brand of wallpaper that is made from selected pulp from Germany, shipped to Thailand where a petrochemically sourced nylon thread is woven through,  rendering the wallpaper unrecyclable, then shipped to Mumbai, where solvent dyes are applied, before being shipped back to the UK for further international distribution, or the tragedy of mercury poisoned Chinese workers paying the price for producing “eco” compact fluorescent light bulbs in cost-cutting factories.”

“So what’s the reason for the seemingly staggering levels of ignorance and apathy in the interiors sector?  Is it because the media hasn’t done a number and exposed the sector as yet? ….”

“Or, is it because most interior designers presume that if their clients don’t ask questions, then they don’t care – this has to be wrong.  Just because your affluent client doesn’t ask you whether their beautiful new rug has been made by a starving eight year old, doesn’t mean to say that they don’t care – clients probably think that as they are paying a professional designer for their services, it is the designer’s responsibility to avoid dragging them into child exploitation.”

“Or, is it just because interior designers aren’t asking their suppliers questions about how their products are manufactured, letting the suppliers off the hook?”

“I’d like to promote the idea that interior designers have the power and influence to change this industry.  For a start, as well as asking clients about design and budget, talk about supply chain issues – present clients with some choices and help them to understand their options and the implications.  Secondly, start to ask questions such as whether a rug is GoodWeave certified and then make purchasing decisions accordingly. Thirdly, please challenge wishy-washy answers provided by some designers and suppliers.

For example, in the rug industry, I often hear the following: “We’ve been dealing with the same family company in India for years and they would never employ children,” or “my supplier sponsors a lovely school for girls in the carpet belt – I’ve seen photos of it.”  These assertions may be true, but the sad facts are as follows: most child labour is hidden in subcontractor factories or in remote rural villages which the owner of the business may never have visited.  He won’t deliberately employ children, but it is often the case that rugs are woven via a series of agents who are not always as scrupulous.  As for sponsoring the school, that’s a wonderful charitable act, but it’s not going to prevent illegal, child labour.”

When will the interiors sector clean up its act and wake up to its responsibilities?

In his programme on cotton from India, Hawksley highlighted the fact that the supply chain audits carried out simply do not penetrate deep enough into the lower tiers of the supply chain, and this is where you will find children working – not in the main factory where stitching is carried out, but in the picking and ginning areas.

The same is true for the rug industry, and that is why GoodWeave carries out its unique inspection work in the weaving villages and factories. Our licensed exporters are required to disclose all levels of the supply chain used, and our teams of inspectors carry out unannounced inspections every day. We believe this is the only effective deterrent to the abuse of children in supply chains. Coupled with our education programmes which have helped many thousands of children climb their way out of illiteracy, the GoodWeave system offers a unique and effective approach to ending child labour.

On his blog he filed the following report on January 21st 2012.

“Hundred of thousands children in India are involved in picking and processing cotton. Many are kept out school, work in dangerous conditions and some are not even paid. Campaigners say the big UK clothing stores should do much more to stop child labour being used in their supply chains. One of the main cotton producing areas is Gujarat in Western India. From there Humphrey Hawksley sent this report.

In a lush green field, speckled with white flowering buds, a little girl in a dirty yellow dress, her eyes squinting against overhead sun, her arms covered in scratches from her work speaks in monosyllables about her life.

Kali isn’t from here, and she has no idea where her parents are. She has a child’s face, but any playfulness seems long drained from it. Her expression is dulled; her movements robotic as she prizes open the dark green bud.

Pristine raw cotton springs out. It’s like the cotton wool we buy in chemist shops. Kali drops it into a sack and opens another bud.

She thinks she’s ten years old, but she’s not sure. She is illiterate and she doesn’t go to school – one of perhaps half a million children who work in the cotton industry in India. There are several million around the world.

No-one knows how many, because no real checks are made, but driving around northern Gurjarat children in cotton fields are easy to find.

Kali is at the bottom end of a global supply chain whose top end finishes in our high street stores and fashion show cat walks. Worldwide revenues are measured in the trillions.

The next stage is the factory. Inside you get what labour activists describe as the horror of the white cloud. Cotton dust is so dangerous it can cause chronic lung problems at an early age.

We visited three factories, but I don’t plan to name them in order to avoid repercussions against the workers. The sites were all pretty much the same, and despite what we saw, managers insisted that everything was in order.

Raw cotton is pushed down into machines that process it to be made into thread. It’s called ginning.

The air is thick with cotton dust. My chest tightened immediately. My throat became irritable and my eyes began to water. The noise was deafening. The workers were mainly women and young girls. Some looked no more than ten or eleven. None had masks or safety clothing.

Next to the machine room in one factory was a warehouse where young men and boys were piling cotton into baskets that were carried out on their heads – the white fluff stuck to their skin, their hair and their clothes.

Another factory had an old machine whose logo announced it was made in Manchester. It brought to mind William Blake’s descriptions of Britain’s ‘Dark Satanic Mills’ in the early 19th Century when may have been referring to similar factories here. They were closed down long ago because living conditions for the workers were seen to be unacceptable.

But that poses the question – given the present trend towards globalisation – why similar working conditions remain acceptable for children and workers in India and elsewhere.

Despite phone calls and e-mails, none of the main retailers agreed to be interviewed about their cotton supply chains. Some did issue statements saying they did not tolerate abuse and were committed to fair labour practices. The British government simply said it supported all activity to give better working conditions to those working to supply UK companies.

The muted response is not unusual and the activists that guided us around Gujurat said they had been asking for help for years, but without success.

Cotton is only one example of tainted supply chains. Millions of children are also forced to harvest cocoa for chocolate or coltan, the metal used in our mobile phones – sold in glittering shopping malls across the world.

What perhaps is surprising is how little has changed over the centuries.

In Gujarat, I happened to be carrying Voltaire’s satirical novel of the optimistic adventurer Candide, in which he describes a meeting between the hero and a desolate sugar worker in South America who comments simply on his work and injuries: “It is the price we pay for the sugar you eat in Europe.”

Candide was published in 1759. More than 250 years later, I met 23-year-old Gohil Maganbhai who started work when he was twelve and lost a thumb in a ginning machine.

And at the last site we visited, we found Pryanka and Versha. They huddled up outside against the factory wall, as they told their stories. Like Kali, their homes were far away. They both said they were eleven years old, sent here by their parents and trafficked in through a labour agency. They never saw their wages. The money went straight to their parents — after the agent took a cut.

It was impossible not to reflect on Voltaire and ask whether the plight of Kali, Gohil, Pryanka and Versha is simply the price they pay for the cotton we buy in Europe.”

High Street Rug Retailers Deny Child Labour

High Street Retailers regularly deny they have any problems in their ethical supply chain for the manufacture of rugs and refuse to sign up to the GoodWeave labelling scheme, when approached by GoodWeave UK.   Judging by Hawksley’s findings, it is going to take consumers voting with their feet to get through to the retailers’ buyers, who value margin more than lives.

New Rug from Deirdre Dyson - Devil's Bit Scabious

Deirdre Dyson’s new collection of luxury, hand-knotted rugs, is a welcome breath of fresh, rural air. The collection has a decidedly botanical style and is a welcome reminder that there are warmer days to come and that nature will transform our landscape, once again, this Spring.
The collection comprises seven designs – a wonderfully idiosyncratic number. Some of the names are equally individual, reflecting the plants featured: Ribwort Plantain, Devil’s Bit Scabious, Hairy Sedge, in addition to more familiar plants such as the Daisy. Deirdre worked on the designs over a period of six months: “All of the flowers and leaves are wild and inspired by a wild flower meadow owned by a friend; Salad Days was inspired by my own vegetable garden. I start with one idea, usually heavily influenced by colour, and the theme evolves from this first design. My hope is that I have captured the freshness of spring, the brightness and sometimes dryness of summer and the vibrancy of autumn”.

Salad Days New Rug Design from Deirdre Dyson

These rugs are hand-knotted in Nepal by weavers certified under the GoodWeave labelling scheme. The knot count is 100 inches per inch and Deirdre has combined silk with wool to create accented areas, although the actual specification can be tailored to the individual’s requirements.

To touch and feel call in at the Deirdre Dyson Showroom in the King’s Road, London.

GoodWeave Rug Design Competition 2012

back and open to entries from students aged 18 or over.  This year the theme for the brief is RETRO FUNK and has been compiled by designers from the innovative eco design practice Living in Space and Wovenground, the luxury rug retailer.  All the details can be downloaded from the GoodWeave website.

Having met Tracy Bidwell, winner of the 2011 competition, I’ve recently got back in touch with her to catch up with her news.  Tracy was a final year student at Newcastle, when she won – her rug was exhibited on the GoodWeave stand at Decorex last September and she made excellent use of the surrounding publicity to help launch her career.

As a direct result of the show she was commissioned to work on an exciting new flooring range and she has recently been given a stand at the Fashion and Embroidery show, at the NEC in March, as a result of her sponsorhsip connection with Madeira Threads.  She’s evidently got her head down at the moment working on designs for the show, including a rug…  For more about Tracy you can visit her design website.

So, the 2012 GoodWeave competition has the potential to help launch another student’s career – watch this space!

A Section of the new Stamp Rug to Mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

As reported just a few weeks ago, the Stamp rugs from Rug-maker turn up in the most amazing places and now, hot off the press, is the news that the company is going to be introducing two new Stamp Rugs to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Due to be launched at the Interiors Show at the NEC in late January it is understood there will be two designs. 

Hand-knotted in pure New Zealand wool out in Nepal, the rugs promise to be possibly the most exclusive souvenir of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and a serious temptation to Royal memorabilia collectors.

One of the new Rugs to Celebrate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Arun Paudel of GoodWeave Nepal at the STARS Impact Awards

GoodWeave Nepal has just been selected by The STARS Foundation as the winner of the 2011 Asia-Pacific STARS Impact Award in the category of Protection. The $100,000 Impact Award is fabulous news and recognises the work that GoodWeave does in Nepal in both rescuing and preventing children from entering child labour in the rug industry; it will give a huge boost to the organization and what it can achieve.

Arun Paudel Executive Director of GoodWeave Nepal and the Nepal team attended the ceremony to receive the STARS award, $100,000.00 unrestricted funding and invaluable access to independent consultancy. It was held at the British Academy Thursday 24th November and Arun was accompanied by Samantha Towle and

Arun Paudel (left) and Jonathan Blagnrough (right) of GoodWeave

Jonathan Blagbrough from the GoodWeave UK Board.

To win the Award, Arun Paudel and his team were closely scrutinised by the STARS assessment team, who visited them to see for themselves the work they are doing and the organisation. Their report makes interesting reading and highlights their extraordinary achievements with extremely limited resources:

“Throughout the application process, GoodWeave Nepal came across as a well-focused organisation, with a clear desire to meet the needs of child weavers in Nepal. Both the STARS assessment team and the independent Panel were impressed by the innovative way in which GoodWeave Nepal has sought to meet these needs, working both with the carpet industry and the NGO sector to address the issue of child labour in carpet factories. GoodWeave Nepal also demonstrated a commitment to reaching the most vulnerable groups in a holistic manner, focusing both on the prevention as well as the rehabilitation of child weavers.

The evident impact these services are having in terms of improving the lives of children and offering them access to care and support and good quality education were very impressive.

GoodWeave Nepal also came across as a well-run and well-organised organisation, with clear systems and processes in place. It was very positive to meet staff members who have been involved with the organisation for years. During our visit, GoodWeave Nepal’s team came across as knowledgeable and committed to their work, demonstrating a good level of experience. The interaction of GoodWeave Nepal’s staff with beneficiaries came across as excellent. “

Arun has an extensive list of projects which can now be actioned thanks to the awards; these include an extensive educational programme to inform rug-making communities that child labour is illegal and how they can help to put an end to it, plus training programmes for adult weavers, who are in short supply in Nepal, so that there is less pressure to force children to work.

Alan Carr Chatty Man Studio Set Showcase for Stamp Rug

Alan Carr Chatty Man may not realise it but his eye-catching Stamp rug, which features on his studio set each week, is in fact a GoodWeave labelled rug. This range of quirky colourful rugs is ethically produced in Nepal and available from GoodWeave partner Rug-maker.com. Many of Alan’s guests, including Adele, have shown an interest in the rugs and Samantha Towle, Director of GoodWeave, thinks it’s just great that a GoodWeave labelled rug has finally made a TV debut.