By Kerry O'Neill | Assistant Director, CPALI
You may have heard about the design workshop recently completed in Madagascar. We have admittedly been bragging about its smashing success for more than a month now. What you haven't heard about is the impact that it is already having on our program.
To catch you up, Docey Lewis, an international design and business consultant visited our team in Madagascar along with CPALI director, Catherine Craig. Together they spearheaded a training workshop that invigorated the team and added new designs, skills and techniques to our previous repertoire.
Among other things, the workshop introduced a line of textile dyes and techniques. The results are stunning. The dyes embellished the silks in ways that we never thought possible, transforming our previous products into a whole new set of possibilities. Pictures of the product development that took place can be found below.
The workshop also introduced raffia as supplemental product to the silk. Raffia is made from a native palm in Madagascar and is locally grown and processed. It is inexpensive and highly coveted by design companies around the world. The SEPALI team is already hard at work recruiting local raffia producers and weavers to build a supply chain. Raffia farming is attracting new farmers in the Makira region where we work and hopefully will expand the project impact and farmer participation.
The new dyed silks are attracting the attention of the international community. Color by Amber, a Canadian jewelry company. They have already placed large orders of dyed silks and raffia. SEPALI's conservation through sustainable livelihoods also recently caught the eye of the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo in Florida. They are planning to raise funds on behalf of the SEPALI team over the next year through their Quarters for Conservation program.
Many exciting developments! Wish us luck, send us your commnets and suggestions, check out our new products and most importantly, thank you for your ongoing support of our project! We couldn't do it without you!
All the best,
CPALI/SEPALI team
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