the MAIWA JOURNAL: Maiwa Foundation

Friday, September 06, 2024 No comments

Thursday, December 21, 2023 No comments

Wednesday, September 06, 2023 No comments

UPDATE

FROM THE LEATHERWORKERS AND WEAVERS

of the

ARTISANS ALLIANCE OF JAWAJA

From the Maiwa Foundation

The Maiwa Foundation is dedicated to the long-term goal of making artisans and craftspeople self sufficient. We provide funding to remove obstacles to self sufficiency, and to educate and raise the skills of artisans.

Only one of the groups we work with has required crisis assistance due the challenges wrought by COVID - that is the leatherworkers and weavers of Jawaja. In Canada, when the pandemic first started, the Canadian government offered something called the “Canada Emergency Response Benefit” or CERB as we all call it. The Maiwa Foundation has been able to offer its own form of CERB to the group of Jawaja artisans located in Rajasthan.

With lockdowns and restrictions on international travel, this group could not attend craft fairs. Within India their work is sold through craft alliances and in airport boutiques. The closure of these venues and the decline in demand for their goods due to pandemic related lifestyle changes has meant that there were few orders and little work available for this group. Maiwa stepped in and, for the first time in our history, provided subsistence living expenses to a group of artisans. In the past we have provided assistance to get out from under a predatory lender, capital assistance to construct a facility for the preparation of hides, and our very popular pink bike project - that makes it easier for school girls to get to school.

We are actively looking for ways to turn this situation around. We are optimistic and hopeful that it can be done. We are encouraged by the Jawaja artisans who tell us repeatedly that what they want is work, not charity. They want orders, ideally beyond our regular orders, to fill the gap created by lost work. If they have reliable, consistent orders they do not require financial assistance.

We are in contact with Indian artisans on a weekly (sometimes a daily) basis. In a normal year we would spend many months in India working side-by-side. The present situation has pushed the day when we can work together a bit further into the future. What the artisans want most is what we all want - for things to return to normal. One way to keep things as normal as possible is to have meaningful work. We are doing everything we can to make this happen.

We and all the Indian artisans thank you for your continued support.

Donate to the Maiwa Foundation

See Jawaja Leatherwork Here

PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT THE ARTISANS ALLIANCE OF JAWAJA

The Pink Bike Project

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Jawaja Weaving and A Thank You To Jane Stafford

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Artisans Alliance of Jawaja Faces Land Challenge

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A New Loom for the Artisans Alliance of Jawaja

Tuesday, July 20, 2021 No comments

2019 FOUNDATION

TEACHING NATURAL DYES IN BENGAL

We continue to work with a natural dye revival in Bengal. Regular readers will know that following the 2017 Indigo Sutra conference, Maiwa taught workshops in rural Bengal. To get artisans up and running with natural dyes they need orders. As 2019 unfolded, those orders started to arrive. We will unfurl the cloth, check the weave and dyeing and then think about how this magnificent cloth can be used.

Read about the Bengal Workshops in our series of blog posts.

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2019 BEHIND THE SCENES

HELPING "THE CLOTH THAT CHANGED THE WORLD"

Maiwa was pleased to provide some of the natural dye samples that will be on display at the Royal Ontario Museum's upcoming show: The Cloth that Changed the World: India's Painted and Printed Cottons. The exhibition opens in April 2020 and runs until September 2020. A few of our images have been used in the accompanying book. The book is a magnificent production edited by Sarah Fee (Senior curator of Eastern Hemisphere fashion and textiles at the Royal Ontario Museum.) The book is now available for pre-order.

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2019 ENGAGEMENT

GIBSONS PUBLIC ART GALLERY

Charllotte Kwon delivered a talk at the Gibsons Public Library on the Sunshine Coast. It was her Slow Clothes lecture in which she argues for ways to put value and meaning back into our textiles and the ways we make them.

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2019 LECTURES

MAIWA SCHOOL OF TEXTILES

The 2019 Lecture and Event Series included a number of international artisans. We had five outstanding individuals from India including father & son, Jabbar and Adam Khatri. brothers Abdullah and Jabbar Khatri, and famed weaver Shamji Vankar. We also hosted a special event by India Flint, and provocative lectures by Meghann O'Brien, Anna Heywood-Jones, and Tim McLaughlin. The annual Threads Lecture was delivered by Charllotte Kwon and Tim McLaughlin.

SEE ALL REVIEWS HERE

Friday, January 10, 2020 No comments

INDIGO VAT PROJECT

Natural indigo is the famous blue dye used throughout India. The Maiwa Foundation is building infrastructure to encourage the use of natural indigo (derived from plants) rather than synthetic indigo (synthesized from petrochemicals). We are also encouraging the use of a natural fermentation process in dyeing whenever possible.

Traditional dyeing with natural indigo is accomplished through a fermentation vat. This process is difficult (if not impossible) to do in a shallow plastic pan or a metal pot. As with other fermentation processes (wine, beer, bread) the enzymes which drive the process are sensitive to temperature and environmental conditions.

Traditionally clay vessels are used that may be anywhere from 3 to 10 feet deep. The deeper vessels require more dye to get started, but they can run longer without removing the sediment (which gradually builds up on the bottom of the vat). Deeper vats can also accommodate lengths of cloth. The vats are buried in packed earth to stabilize the temperature. Sometimes they are surrounded on the outside with goat dung. The dung breaks down (like compost) and acts like a slow-release heater to keep the vat active during the winter.

The Maiwa Foundations identifies artisans who are enthusiastic to return to traditional methods. Maiwa will purchase and oversee the installation of traditional vats. In addition the Maiwa Foundation provides training in traditional methods as well as trouble shooting and sourcing natural indigo.

Your donation will assist in the purchase of the pot itself, transport, preparation and installation. The Maiwa Foundation hopes to remove barriers to authentic artisan work.

Click Here to Donate to the Indigo Vat Project

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ONLINE GIFT CARD

Shopping for someone else but not sure what to give them? Give them the gift of choice with a MAIWA ONLINE gift card.

Gift cards can be used for anything in the MAIWA ONLINE store only. Sorry, the ONLINE gift card cannot be redeemed in the physical stores (Maiwa, Maiwa Supply, Maiwa East).

Gift cards are delivered by email and contain instructions to redeem them at checkout. Our gift cards have no additional processing fees.

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IN-STORE GIFT CERTIFICATE

Looking for a gift certificate for MAIWA SUPPLY, MAIWA EAST or the MAIN MAIWA STORE? Please call us at 604 669 3939 or drop by and we will be happy to issue a gift certificate for the physical stores.

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MAIWA'S HOLIDAY HOURS

MAIWA & MAIWA SUPPLY

GRANVILLE ISLAND, VANCOUVER

December 24th (Christmas Eve) — 10am - 5pm

December 25th (Christmas Day) — Closed

December 26th (Boxing Day) — Closed

December 27th-30th — 10am - 7pm

December 31st (New Years Eve) — 10am - 4pm

January 1st (New Years Day) — Closed

January 2nd — Winter hours in effect until March 31st — 10am-6pm

MAIWA EAST

1310 ODLUM DRIVE, VANCOUVER

December 24th (Christmas Eve) — 9am - 5pm

December 25th (Christmas Day) — Closed

December 26th (Boxing Day) — Closed

December 27th – 9am - 5pm

December 28, 29th – Closed

December 30th – 9am - 5pm

December 31st (New Years Eve) — 9am - 4pm

January 1st (New Years Day) — Closed

January 2nd — Regular hours return, Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm

Wednesday, December 18, 2019 No comments

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