Fair trade- behind the scenes
Like with most of our fabrics, I remember exactly how we found the block printed beauty this book sleeve is made with.
We had been traveling all day, visiting shop after shop and workshop after workshop.
In the South East Asian heat and humidity it can get tough.
We were constantly told that we were looking at handmade batiks but my eyes were telling me a different story. So we politely said, thank you so much, and left.
Here and there we did see some handmade batiks in between the piles of machine printed cottons but the quality was SO bad it made me sad even looking at them.
We knew or assumed that there were artisans in this same town that still respect their art, use the right materials, take the time it takes and on top of that ask a normal price, basically, that aren't crooks. And we assumed we would find them!
Finally, right before sunset we found ourselves in the outskirts of that town.
Sandy road, dogs and children playing, a family on a motorbike and an ice cream vendor on a bicycle. The kind of place where time stood still years ago. And at the end of the road a large wooden house opposite the workshop.
We had arrived!
We learned that the brother and sister had taken over this business from their father, who had taken it over from his father who had taken it over from his father etc... This is a pattern we come across all the time. Family run workshops go way back in time and there is a pride about their art and the connection of their craft and the history of their community.
As we were drinking tea they told us what we already knew, that it was hard so sell in town these days, with all the crooks around, selling fakes and bad quality.
It's all down to the knowledge of the buyers though. If we would understand what something is worth nobody could sell it to us for more.
We went through their fabrics and all of them were real. (That was already something to celebrate!) Then of course we had to choose what we would buy, not everything that is real and well made will suit our taste or our western clients' taste.
We walked away with a big smile on our face and 4 pieces of block printed batik =8m!
Here below you see some of the other fabrics from the same family, all block printed batiks. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.
After all this searching for only 8m of non repeatable fabric… it’s perhaps not surprising that I often don’t want to sell the things I make with them.
But seriously, why is it so hard to find real things?
I learned this:
As a buyer you have to become a specialist in what you buy or otherwise crooks are invited to the market.
Now, how did I recognise the real ones from the fakes?
I made a 5 point presentation on how to recognise a batik. Do check it out, it’s good!