I’m writing this from my parent’s home in Mission Viejo, California. It’s good, although somewhat strange, to be back in the US. This is a very different world from the one that I’ve been living in Nepal. A friend recently told me about Shailee Crafts a social venture operated by two brothers, Success and Shailesh Dhamala, in Kathmandu.
Shailee Crafts is a handmade crafts manufacturing company. Improvising traditional Nepalese techniques in producing crafts, it has been applying modern emerging principles in designing buttons, souvenirs, and various other ethical fashion accessories. Shailee Crafts envisions an ideal workspace with all the technological amenities and ergonomic workspace where passionate people come together to create products for people around the world.
Success and Shailesh grew up in their father’s small handicrafts workshop. Their father used to make small lockets, beads and an array of hippie driven curio products. This fascinated them and opened a new dimension in their lives giving them an obsession with arts, crafts and the ideas of subcultures around the world. The brothers were introduced to various shapes, symbols, ideas, images of the world they were living in which would later be translated into various products in the form of buttons, jewelry and art pieces.
Shailee Crafts is focused on empowering the lives of craftsmen, finding dexterous people and providing them jobs along with valuing their skills. Unlike many other companies the brothers are very focused on their human resources, hiring people who have a basic working understanding of hand held tools. Shailee Crafts pays fair wages and salaries to it workers and involves them in the planning and production process.
Shailee Crafts is a social venture. By providing jobs building self-esteem for the lives of those they hire, reinvesting profits into the business system to create more jobs, they have been able to contribute to a better society.
Shailee works with various suppliers and people acquiring resources, horns and bones for the production of their products. Resources are collected from businesses that export animal remains to India and even the direct suppliers of meat and commercial slaughter houses. Collection points also include small family businesses.
Shailee Crafts discourages the use of ivory, bones and horns of endangered and wild animals using the horns of water buffalos. Shailee Crafts up-cycles natural material and reuses resources to create its crafts. No animals are hurt in acquiring resources for Shailee Crafts.
Only animals killed for celebratory meat and their calcium condensed parts are used. Shailee also uses natural woods, metals, organic resins, fibres and fabrics.
Button Mahal which will be held at Baber Mahal Revisited on September 24-25 between 11am to 7pm where you can see the work of Shailee Crafts. Button Mahal is an event where buttons of various personalities and designs will be showcased. This 2016 button collection is named “EARTH”. The Earth collection buttons have cracks and faults to express the Earthquake that was endured last year. These were designed while living in a fear of multiple aftershocks. The 2014 and 2015 collections are called EVOLUTION and MUSE and will be exhibited as well. Each collection of buttons is like a discography of music where you will find each button with their names resembling its personality. Seeing a global market potential for buttons keeps Shailee excited, inspired and motivated.
Supporting businesses such as Shailee, a social venture, makes a great deal of sense. This not only helps this business but also supports a number of jobs and continued expertise in craftsmanship. Being conscious as to what we support in terms of our consumer choices is vital to creating a better society. Please try to attend Button Mahal to learn more about Shailee and its products.
Add new comment