This Saturday, May 12, join us and Tout Le Monde at the Hester Street Fair for a trip through the sights, sounds, hustle and bustle of Cambodia, right here in NYC. We’ll be featuring curated treasures and ethical goods made by Cambodian cooperatives, designers, and microentrepreneurs—just in time for Mother’s Day. Hope to see you there!
Empty water bottles can have so many uses—for example, as a flotation device for cats.
Water Bottle Swimming Vest for Cats via Message/Facebook submitted by Siriwat
Source: thai-flood-hacks
Celebrate Earth Day with eco-minded designs such as this find at Brooklyn Industries!
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We’re kicking off a series of posts interviewing local (at least to those in NYC!) entrepreneurs on microfinance loans supporting ethical goods. Read their stories and support the business!
Sandra Baquero
Website: http://www.sandrabaquero.com/
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SandraBaquero
Store: 312 E 9th St - Sohung designs
Background
Sandra is originally from Columbia and owned a women’s clothing store selling her own designs. However due to the declining economy, business started to slow down and she found herself scaling down business operations each year. About 16 years ago, as Sandra was applying for a visa on behalf of a family member, she spontaneously decided to apply for herself as well. She was surprised to be granted a visa, but thought of it as “destiny” and decided to move to the United States. She came to the New York area with $500, a small suitcase, and without any English speaking skills.
Getting into fashion in the U.S.
Sandra originally started working at a beauty salon in New York. She continued to make clothes for herself and her daughter and caught the eyes of those around her. Her salon clients praised her designs and encouraged her to start working in fashion again. She started to make and sell mother and daughter pairings in her free time, but eventually transitioned into designing a women’s line full-time. Sandra started to participate in fashion shows, which led to other opportunities, including obtaining a space at Sohung Designs boutique shop in the East Village neighborhood of NYC. She continues to make all of her own samples, and her goods are manufactured locally in the New York and New Jersey area.
Inspiration for designs
“I’m Latina, you know? I like to show the curves of the body…”
The colors, cuts, and designs of Sandra’s line depend on the market needs. She is not a believer in having rules or a seasonal theme. She describes her fashion as having a “seasonless style with the comfort and practicality which can be worn from day into evening. Each collection incorporates a wonderful mix of vibrant colors and prints …and all keeping various body types in mind, allowing every woman to feel great about herself!”
Challenges
Although she was presented with many fashion show opportunities, at $2,000 entrance fees per show, Sandra had difficulty coming up with these funds. After being denied loans from several banks due to her lack of credit history, Sandra found herself unable to participate in shows that would help her increase sales and get her name out. She found hope when a representative from ACCION was speaking at a business development seminar at the Columbian Consul a couple years ago. ACCION recognized Sandra’s ambition and work ethic and set her up with a mentor and a $6,000 loan. Sandra finds it easy to pay off these loans with her sales from the shows, and is already on her second loan as she continues to grow her business. She’s grateful that ACCION looked past the numbers, saw her potential for success, and gave her the opportunity to prove them right. “ACCION saw the paperwork but they also saw the product and person… they saw the future they could help make.”
5 year vision
Sandra hopes to open a shop of her own in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC within the next 5 years as well as expand her website capabilities and offerings. Her second and future loans will go towards investing in website improvements. Her website has reduced the time she spends on the operational aspect of business and provides her with more time to prepare for large-scale shows. She manages to create 1-2 samples a day leading up to her shows, works at the Sohung shop, and still finds time to spend with her husband and young daughter! Wherever she is in 5 years, Sandra guarantees that she will still be focusing on what she does best: creating beautiful designs for women.
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What to do with an old tennis racket and a broken chair? MASH UP.
Helicopters, downed MiG-5s, tanks, camels, and is that a Stinger missile launcher I spy? Not your average Pottery Barn find.
Carpet Bombings:
After the Soviet invasion in 1979, Afgan rug makers strayed from the mostly geometric forms they had depicted for centuries, and began weaving figurative designs. These images were not traditional either—they were flags, helicopters, tanks, grenades, and other accoutrements of the soldiers they wanted as their customers. Initially the Western market ignored these creations, which did not fit with their concept of what “authentic” Afgan rugs should be.
But eventually dealers and scholars took notice, and now an exhibition featuring some spectacular examples of this hybrid genre has arrived at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. This rug, woven between 2001-2007, depicts President Najibullah, who led Afghanistan when the Soviet army withdrew in 1989, as a puppet managed by a hand with a hammer and sickle. The figures riding on camels across the bottom of the rug are refugees.
Curators stress they have not decoded much of the iconography on these carpets. The weavers, who came from ethnic regions with their own distinctive materials, iconography, and techniques, had shared styles in refugee camps and elsewhere, meaning that the old categories for sorting and interpreting their work are no longer useful. And these days, weavers are just as likely to be influenced by images from television or foreign magazines as they are by historical antecedents.
“People see these things and jump to the conclusion that it’s protest art,” says Penn Museum curator Brian Spooner. “I don’t think we have any evidence at all. I think it’s also that people try and please the international customer.”
The weavers the museum worked with offered the staff a carpet with an image of President Nixon as a gift, Spooner recounts. “That didn’t go down very well here,” he says. “So we compromised, and they wove us a small carpet with the museum logo on it.”
Photo © Textile Museum of Canada.
Source: niborama
Real men make cloth with their bare hands in shady bars on small islands.
The perfect attire for cagefighting, woodcutting, or just looking large + in charge.
The krama as male casualwear. Keep in mind that Cambodia (and maybe where you are) is hot and humid. There’s not too much of a breeze. There’s all kind of things to do - kickbox, chop wood, or just stand around pioneering the camo & checks look. So capitalize on what you can, and wrap up that krama into a sarong/lungi/man-skirt. Settle in and get comfy as you can. It’s the goddamn best.
Source: 101usesforakrama
Ahkun + Tout Le Monde. NYC. Hester Street Fair. May 12 + 19. See you there!
