The beginning of an adventure
This adventure began when an old family friend bought, and “upcycled” a lovely old Sri Lankan property in Mirissa, in southern Sri Lanka – think sea, beach, super-friendly people, tropical vegetation, and colour... What is not to love...?
As someone who was born in Nigeria, brought up in Uganda and Kenya, and having lived, amongst other places, in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, I have been surrounded by huge creativity, colour and poverty all my life.
A business is conceived...
At the beginning of 2018, I decided to sell my house in order to set up an e-commerce platform, www.crushed-linen.com, to get the products made by SELYN, and other community enterprises worldwide, supporting women in particular, “out there” ....
OK, now what else does Sri Lanka have to offer...?
I follow a trail of the most striking and beautiful COLOURS and find “SELYN”!
“SELYN”, a community enterprise started by Sandra Wanduregala in 1991, with 15 women, in the village of Wanduregala in Kurunegala, Sri Lanka.
“SELYN” now has nearly 1000 members within its organisation.
Fair trade
“SELYN” is Sri Lanka’s only Fairtrade Certified company, and one of its largest social enterprises, crafting brightly-coloured, handmade and handwoven premium products, whilst empowering local artisan communities – especially women.
“SELYN” takes on this challenge to revive and keep alive local traditions of the handloom crafts, and has extended its benefits to its rural artisan’s, made up mainly of women, through the principles of Fair Trade, in order to uplift the living standards of women in particular, providing them with income-generating opportunities and the ability to manage:
- Her home
- Her children
- Her finances
- Her physical and mental well-being
In short, she can be in charge of the choices she makes.
Sri Lanka
Now I am DEFINITELY off to Sri Lanka... My flight is booked for the beginning of May 2019...
BANG! Quite literally! The Easter Bombings in Sri Lanka took place on 21 April 2019, with a tragic and senseless act of violence for a country barely 10 years out of civil war, that was only just putting itself back on the world map, particularly as a tourist destination.
I finally arrived at Negombo Airport, Sri Lanka, on 23 November 2019, and walked out into a hot, steamy, wet evening, with a two and a half hour drive ahead of me to Mirissa, where I will be staying at a lovely, upcycled, old Sri Lankan Villa, Villa Dimaha, available through Air BnB.
The next 8 days were a whirlwind of travel, meeting people, photo shoots, and exploration...
I travelled to Kurunegala, and met the wonderful, friendly ladies who were showing off their weaving, sewing, and creative skills either at the SELYN factory, or collecting work from SELYN, to take home so they can work and be with their families.
From there, it was off to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, for the night which was spent at Prana Home, a Boutique Hotel in yet another renovated old Sri Lankan house, with yoga studios on the ground floor, along with the Seed Café serving up an organic breakfast, and fantastic cappuccino’s! The rooms upstairs really hinted of old Ceylon, with high ceilings, creaky floorboards and door locks with a mind of their own!
Not to mention the best toilet roll holder I have ever seen in my life...!
The Seed Cafe
An amazing dinner that evening of Asian Fusion fare, the likes of which I have never tasted before, at Monsoon Restaurant, led to the following morning’s photoshoot with professional photographer, Hamish John Appleby at the SELYN Flagship Store in Colombo, before it was back to Mirissa that afternoon.
Meet Hamish John Appleby
Hamish’s lifestyle photoshoot continued the following day at Villa Dimaha, the results of which can be seen on the website www.crushed-linen.com.
January/February 2020
My first order is placed with SELYN for table runners, mats, napkins, and cushion covers...
BOOM! The world is in the midst of a pandemic, Sri Lanka is in lockdown, along with many other countries in the world, and I receive the following email from SELYN:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
When Sri Lanka went into lockdown, we had no idea what the future held for any of us. When can we reopen? How do we continue to pay our artisans so that they can have three meals, medicine and other essentials? How do we retain our dynamic managerial staff? How do we, as a Fairtrade company in a tiny island in Asia, help fight back and survive this pandemic? That is when #peoplesmask initiative came for the rescue.
Selyn is proud to announce this new timely initiative to help win our fight against Covid19. The #PeoplesMask is an effort to ease the pressure on the demand for surgical masks, which are supposed to be reserved for medical professionals.
“People Mask' is an initiative and a product of WFTO (World Fair Trade Organisation) Asia and Fairtrade Enterprises in the region that aims to help end COVID-19. Together with WFTO, we at Selyn shifted our production to making masks, following Fair Trade standards as well as WHO recommendations.
As a product, the People Mask is designed for non-medical front-liners - the grocery store workers, public transport drivers, government workers, social workers, community development workers, essential private-sector workers, peace and order personnel, trash collectors, food workers, farmers, and artisans. The People Mask is also intended to serve and protect the health of people coming from the marginalized sectors of society.
The People Mask was produced based on the HK Mask Design, a laboratory- tested system using fabric masks and filters coupled with proper washing and sanitation. It is a reusable cloth mask with a disposable middle layer filter with filtration efficiency close to that of an N70 mask.
The People Mask helps us stay safe while providing a living to the artisans at this time of need.
A business is born... www.crushed-linen.com Your support is needed...
By quite simply buying face masks at this time from www.crushed-linen.com, you are contributing in so many ways towards the well-being and upliftment of women in particular.
As this business grows up, it will become a platform for community enterprises all over the world, that are able to comply with international regulations, and supply the demand. The focus will be on community enterprises that focus on the upliftment of women worldwide.
The branding of the business...
You can look forward to wonderful stories and “bespoke”, beautifully hand-crafted goods from all over the world. By making sure old and new skills can be passed down through the generations, women will always be empowered, and value will be placed on such skills and products once again, with the aim being that landfills full of unwanted mass production, totally disappear.
You simply cannot give a more thoughtful and brightly coloured gift this Christmas...
It's more than a mask. Buy online now and support the uplifting of women's lives.
