By Kennedy Leavens | Executive Director
Happy Bonus Day from Awamaki!
This Bonus Day, we want you to meet Laura and Meghan, two of Awamaki’s talented resident designer interns who have been hard at work with our seamstresses updating one of our new products.
Laura and Meghan have spent the last two weeks working on redesigning the clutch. After listening to our customers’ feedback, our designers realized that a few things needed to be changed. Among other issues, the leather finishes were difficult to align, so the top of the clutch was coming out crooked.
Rather than making a new product from scratch, Meghan said, “This was problem solving!”
In order to make the best product possible, they crafted several samples and used them to come up with ways to solve the problems and update the design with more modern textiles. “You realize that once you change one problem, it can lead to others,”Laura explained. The fashion student used her expertise as a seamstress to improve the bag’s overall quality.
Once they discovered the best design, they made suggestions to improve the order in which the pieces were put together in order to to streamline production. Last week, they sat down with our seamstresses to teach them how to make the entire clutch. To improve quality, they also taught the seamstresses a new technique. Laura and Meghan worked with Justa and Estela to teach them how to properly work with leather using leather glue and hammer. New to working with leather, Justa and Estela were excited about learning a new skill that they can apply to other products as well.
“This new technique makes the work come out so much better,” Estela told us. “I can use this for the Ivy Bag too, and other new products we are making.”
Your contributions enable us to fund the trainings that we do with the seamstresses so they can continue to refine their skills. This Bonus Day, please consider supporting their ongoing skills and design development with the artisans at Awamaki, and your donation will be matched by GlobalGiving to multiply your impact!
Thank you!
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