By July, the monsoon sets in, in India. This year, the weatherman has predicted heavy to very heavy rains in most part of the country. But we, in Kolkata and Bengal, sweated it out as a result of a delayed monsoon. Although, the grey clouds have been making inconspicuous guest appearances in the otherwise autumn-like sky making for a lot of amazing photo-ops, but not rain. July was all about bags! The Sasha Shop displayed a gamut of bags, in all shapes, hues, colours, styles and crafts; with the workshops interspersed through the month.
BAG it!
An exhibition of a wide array of bags in the Sasha Store. From totes, shoppers, embroidered clutches, boxy satchels to bucket bags –all were featured in the exhibition. These bags are made of jute, madur, leather, canvas and up-cycled fabrics!
Sasha went live on JAYPORE!
Sasha went live on Jaypore with Handloom cotton, silk, linen sarees & Jamdani stoles from Bengal.
https://www.jaypore.com/shop-collection/woven-melodies-by-sasha-world-handwoven-cotton-silk-and-linen-sarees-and-jamdani-stoles-4092
SHIBORI workshop
Shibori is a Japanese manual resist dyeing technique, which produces patterns on fabric. There is an infinite number of ways one can bind, stitch, fold, twist, or compress cloth for shibori, and each way results in very different patterns. Each method is used to achieve a certain result, but each method is also used to work in harmony with the type of cloth used. Therefore, the technique used in shibori depends not only on the desired pattern but the characteristics of the cloth being dyed. Also, different techniques can be used in conjunction with one another to achieve even more elaborate results. Sasha organized a three-day training cum workshop on Shibori techniques at Sasha Textile Artisan Association for three days. Four producer groups attended this workshop. Young designer Sananda Biswas facilitated this training along with Karobi Choudhuri.
FIRE SAFETY training
Sasha organized a training programme on Fire Safety (awareness & handling the emergency fire situation) on 23rd July for its staff. A total of 15 participants from different departments of SASHA & SSA were present for this training programme. The training was facilitated by Mr. Swapan Kumar Banerjee, ex-chief manager, Barauni Oil refinery, an expert in this type of training.
“ENTERPRISE ORIENTATION” workshop at IICP
SSA continued its training on “Enterprise Orientation” and ‘Business Skill Development’ at Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy with the parents of the differently abled young adults and their kids. Various aspects of a craft process were discussed, types of market trend based on the market were explained and record keeping, bookkeeping, costing and pricing was discussed briefly. On the last day, all the participants presented their learnings through presentations.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT ORIENTATION workshop with SPAN
‘Society for Peoples’ Awareness (SPAN) is a NGO, working on issues like child development, women empowerment, livelihood concerns of marginal sections, especially unorganized labour (including child labour), and integrated rural development through natural resource management for livelihood and food security since 1989. They are working on livelihood issue with the woman (age group 18-24) in the urban area. They approached SSA to support these minority community youth-both women and men, to help set up enterprises leading to employment and sustainable enterprises, based on market demand. A project orientation workshop for the staff of SPAN was organized on “Motivating Urban Poor towards Self-Employment through Enterprise development.”
Sasha Annual Producer Group Meeting is scheduled for August and we are all excited. Watch out this space for more on our annual producer group meeting.