STEP Season Update
Label STEP
Label STEP is the fair trade non-profit organization committed to the wellbeing of handmade carpet weavers and workers.
Over the past several months, STEP has been busy with a number of exciting weaver initiatives, industry events, and the?inter-country meetings?between our staff.?At STEP, we are always seeking new ways to address the fundamentally important issue of weavers' wages. One of our recent initiatives was the expansion of our?financial literacy training in Nepal, which provides further guidance in saving, budgeting, and income diversification methods as well as digital money-management software.We are thrilled by the industry's growing interest in fair trade. STEP Director Reto Aschwanden participated in a number of industry panels to speak on the subject.?In September, we attended?COVER Connect New York, where we co-hosted two Round Table discussions alongside Lucy Upward, the editor of COVER Magazine. The sessions provided a collaborative platform for members of the handmade rug industry to delve into critical topics, including sustainability and the global weaving landscape.?October brought the?Women Behind the Weave?event (featured below) while November brought?Carpet and Flooring Expo?in Istanbul. Catch us January 11-14 at?DOMOTEX?in Hannover.?As the year winds to a close, we are proud of everything that we've accomplished and look forward to another year of creating safer, more supportive and ethical working environments for weavers.
Women Behind the Weave
In September and October 2023, we celebrated the opening of the?Women Behind the Weave?exhibition, which took place at christopher farr as part of London Design Festival and at?Wild Heart Free Soul?in Berlin. Focused on the important role of women in handmade rug industry, the exhibition featured an inspiring collaboration between two STEP Certified Fair Trade Partners:?Christopher Farr?and?Kirkit Rugs?alongside 15 pieces of woven artwork, conceived of and crafted by a weaver at the Kirkit Rugs workshop. Below, we're introducing one of these incredible creators:
Halime has over 40 years of weaving experience and described the deep significance kilims hold in her life:
“Kilims are used as decoration these days. For me, however, they represent the prayer rug my grandfather prayed on, the kilim my mother used when baking bread, and the bag my sister poured her emotions into. They also symbolize the kilims that were used to wrap the deceased on their journey to the cemetery. In other words, kilims have accompanied us from birth to death.”
“Anatolian women have interwoven their emotions with symbols on rugs for centuries. In this design I have tried to reflect the repressed feelings of Anatolian women and their call for freedom.” –Halime Yildiz
Watch the panel discussion of the Women Behind the Weave?exhibition on our YouTube channel.
News
Fostering Global Collaboration: STEP’s Annual Inter-Country Meetings
Each year, STEP organises internal meetings among its operational countries. Annual international gatherings?offer a unique platform for the global team to partake in field visits, exchange country reports, and dive into the distinct intricacies of each country’s carpet weaving industry.
领英推荐
Digital Financial Literacy Training for Nepal’s Weavers
Financial literacy training has been a major area of focus for Label STEP Nepal since 2017. To expand the successful program, the team recently piloted a further initiative to offer digital financial literacy for weavers and to train so-called financial literacy champions to serve as role models for their communities.
STEP Certified Partners
We'd like to extend a warm welcome to the Partners who recently joined us: ?
A RUM FELLOW , UK
Designercarpets Drechsle , Germany
FLOOR_STORY , UK
kelim.at, Austria
Partner Tip: Affix the STEP logo?to your carpet label, website or your showroom window.? Email us?for high resolution logos, images and guidelines.?Partner FAQ.
Label STEP is the fair trade non-profit organization committed to the wellbeing of weavers and workers in the handmade carpet industry.
To get regular updates subscribe to our Website Newsletter.
Copyright ? 2023 STEP fair trade carpets, All rights reserved.