bricolage in brixton market

bricolage, the textile collective I am part of, have taken over an empty space in Brixton Market for two months till the end of January.

We are selling some of our work and getting to know this old part of the market, which is looking to be regenerated. Several other small businesses and creative enterprises have been given spaces, and there will be a new deli, several vintage shops, a Transition Town community centre and art exhibitions.

We have already had  a great response in the lead-up to Xmas and for January we are planning a series of textile workshops. More info will be on the bricolage website shortly.

Textile markets

More from my travels in India.....we visited a large craft fair in central Delhi which showed the work of the many craft NGO's from all the different regions of India. All the different regional skills were on show and all the products were beautifully made. Obviously the organisations were marketing their products for a local, Indian audience however I couldn't help but see it from my own, UK-centric point of view. 

If these organisations were hoping to provide real financial support for their local craft comunitites, selling to a UK or US market would be ideal. However, I got the feeling that this kind of strategy is desirable but rarely obtainable. The main stumbling block was the design of the products. The craft skill is evident but many of the products were the same and there was a lack of design innovation.     

I have talked in an old post about the problems of designers who go into these communities to offer design and marketing knowledge, but who then leave after a few months and the new design ideas fail to embed in the community. It feels that the real design knowledge needs to come from local people who have been trained in design. 

This was on my mind as I walked through the fair and was pleasantly surprised to find a range of stunning, hand-stitched quilts in the most vibrant, modern colours, that looked like a Rothko painting on acid! This was exactly what I was hoping to find amongst all the other repetitive products. Based in West Bengal, the enterprise is run by a wonderful woman who creates employment to help women off the streets. The women create these beautiful hand stitched quilts using 'kantha', which is a small running stitch and is the most popular embroidery stitch practiced by women in the rural areas in West Bengal.

It turns out that the colour combinations for the fabrics are chosen by a designer based in Delhi who offers his services to the organisation. The 'designer' input was obvious, but the ideal scenario would be for someone from within the community to have the training and knowledge to make these very vital 'design' and marketing decisions.