improving the lives of impoverished local communities. Shokay’s products are now sold domestically and overseas in Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Shokay sources the yak down from Tibetan herders in rural areas of Qinghai province. The reliable and consistent orders help to increase the herders’ incomes by 10-30%. In the beginning their aim was to focus on knitting yarn then later they discovered there was a greater demand for finished products. Inspired by hand-knitting social enterprises all over the world, they chose to partner with the community on Shanghai’s Chongming Island for the knitting production.
The community in Chongming island is just one of 8 communities that Shokay support. The brand invests in many cooperatives across these communities, impacting over 3000 families, spanning the regions of Tibet, Qinghai and Sichuan as well as Chongming. Shokay also commits 1% of their revenues towards Shokay’s Community Development Fund. Over 800 herders in Qinghai have benefitted from Shokay’s healthcare programs. In addition, the funds go to support education through providing university scholarships, female empowerment through hand knit and spun cooperatives as well as better equip the herders on animal husbandry practices and animal science. Shokay is working from a perspective of breadth not only in regards to social impact but also in regards to production, research and development. Where Norlha, works in a great deal of depth developing skilled artisanal products with fully vertical production in their atelier in Ritoma, Shokay has a more expansive supply chain
but aims to maintain a high industry standard and transparency at every step. Even though Shokay began as a Yak wool company specialising in knitted products, it has developed to be so much more. Shokay is now a sustainable textiles company with a passion for developing products using unconventional materials. Since its start, Shokay has expanded its yarn and fabric collections to include other sustainable materials such as to lyocell and bamboo. ‘Shokay Lab’ is a community of designers, manufacturers, and retailers that are equally committed to sustainable fashion. They invest in research and development to build a coordinated supply chain of partners with a mission to ‘empower conscientious designers and to bring to market thoughtfully made and beautiful products.
‘In order for a company to be sustainable, and continue to support and grow with the local community, it has to be successful.’ Says Kim Yeshi from Norlha. For Norlha and for WuYong, ICICLE and Shokay, their success depends on insightfully communicating their story, their products and their vision to the right market. This market is still somewhat niche but is steadily growing. The cost of labour in China has increased over the past decade and the standards of the working environments and the quality of goods, along with it. Thanks to the remarkable dedication of the aforementioned brands, eco-conscious consumers from all over the globe will soon have a very different expectation when purchasing their next garment that was ‘Made in China.’ ••• Laura Shirreff www.wuyong.org, www.icicle.com, www.norlhatextiles.com, www.shokay.com
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Ukrainian Women Bring Back National Pride in Traditional Dress CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT
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“I don’t think we’ve ever lived in such a throwaway culture, where everything from clothes to furniture is seen as short-term and disposable,’ says Su Mason. ‘But living like that is anathema to me. It’s far more interesting to be surrounded by things that have been made with care and have stories to tell.’
Su’s home is a flat in a converted factory in east London but, in contrast to some slicker conversions nearby, her home isn’t a shrine to designer furniture and fast fashion. And it still has a working life. With two bedrooms, a small bathroom and a walk-in kitchen, the main living space doubles as a store-room for rails of clothes and stacks of fabrics that Su sells at markets and antiques fairs.
incer
tog rapher: Penny W
Her stock includes mongrammed French linen sheets, women’s workwear from the Second World War and then more carefully sought finds, such as peach silk nightdress from the twenties, a glittering Biba sheath and a dusty hemmed Miss Haversham-like embroidered gown. ‘I’m surrounded by the “stuff” of life,’ says Su. ‘Many of these clothes were made for special occasions and then packed away in a trunk in an attic. They make you think about the story behind it – not only who wore it, but the seamstress who measured up, selected a particular silk thread and then stitching it by hand.’
Su also specialises in utility wear: women’s dungarees and thick overalls that, conversely, Pho
‘would have been worn day-in, day-out, but women liked to patch with brighter scraps or embroider, to make them a bit prettier and more individual.
Su moved into this rented flat in December 2013 and shares it for part of the week with her eldest daughter Romilly, plus Pepper, her pug. The building used to be a Clarks shoe factory and is close to what was once the heart of the East End rag trade. The flat’s industrial past shows in the exposed pipes and ducts, bare brick walls and high Crittal windows designed to let in lots of light for its one-time factory workers. Other signs of its working history are the extra high and wide doorways, made that way so stock could be moved around easily and, in Su’s seating area, a set of double doors open to a sheer drop to the old loading yard below, where goods were once winched down.
Su and Romilly have decorated this flat in a style that suits its unvarnished appearance, with second-hand market finds and hand-medown furniture. The big farmhouse table was passed on by a friend while other items were bought in markets here and in France, where Su travels a lot to buy fabrics. The entomology (framed butterflies) and few pieces of taxidermy are antique. ‘Romilly buys dilapidated collections and restores them and the boxes,’ she says. The flat’s seating is decorated with cushion covers made from squares of vintage linen, toile and dyed cloth that are too small to sell, or
too special to part with.
Su has a stall under the canopy at London’s Portobello Road market and is a regular at antiques and vintage fairs. Her customers include fashion students and designers: ‘I’ve sourced workwear that has been a big inspiration for Margaret Howell’s designers,’ she says. ‘And I’ve just got in some beautiful fifties ballet pumps with a neat shape that I think a shoe designer friend will love.’ Seamstresses for the theatre and TV also come to Su for antique clothes, plus era-accurate original buttons and thread, so that costumes look as authentic as possible.
One room of the flat is full of haberdashery drawers, containing immaculate cards of pearl buttons, military epaulettes and spools of thread, many bought in French markets. ‘There’s something so lovely about their intactness, some with the price – a few sous – pencilled on the back.’
Sadly, Su and her daughter will soon be on the move, as this former factory is being sold to developers. ‘A very familiar story around here – which is a great shame – but we’ve had five good years,’ she says philosophically. ‘I just hope the next owners love this setting as much as I do.’ Jo Leevers Su Mason will be exhibiting at the Selvedge Winter Fair , 1 December 2018, Mary Ward House, 5-7 Tavistock Place, Bloomsbury London WC1H 9SN
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17-24 August Claire Wellesley-Smith, Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art, France 24-31 August Nicola Cliff of Madder Cutch & Co, Screen Printing with Natural Dyes, France 24-31 August Carla and Jeremy Bonner, Bag of Tricks, Contemporary Leatherwork, France
83 TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY GUDRUN SJÖDÉN Landskap Rug, worth £340, www.gudrunsjoden.com THAMES & HUDSON Textile reading list, worth £300, www.thamesandhudson.com ASHFORD HANDICRAFTS Kiwi Spinning Wheel, worth £362, from www.ashford.co.nz CLARISSA HULSE Collection of homewares, worth £300, www.clarissahulse.com ANGIE LEWIN Engraving ‘Clover’ and three metres of her fabric, inspired by the print, worth £350, www.stjudesfabrics.co.uk MELIN TREGWYNT Nant Gwrtheyrn Double Blanket, worth £295, www.melintregwynt.co.uk JANOME GD8100 Sewing Machine, worth £299, www.janome.co.uk CORAL & TUSK Table Runner, worth $248, www.coralandtusk.com VÄXBO LINEN Strå table cloth and six napkins, worth £290, www.vaxbolin.se KHADI & CO Collection of homewares, worth £300, www.khadiandco.com EPICE Printed wool scarf, worth £300, www.epice.com ALABAMA CHANIN DIY Kit, worth $500, www.alabamachanin.com
INFORM the latest news, reviews and exhibition listings
05 BIAS /CONTRIBUTORS A letter from the founder, Polly Leonard and comments from our contributors 07 NEWS Building With Thread, The Golden Thread, Hainsworth, Textile Tickets Jessica Cutler at Knockando Woolmill, Point Papers, Brighton Pavillion Museum 84 READ Phulkari: The Embroidered Textiles of Punjab. Daniel Mason(ed.), Philadelphia
Museum of Art & Yale University Press reviewed by Sonia Ashmore African Wax Print Textiles by Anne Grosfilley, Prestel, reviewed by Liese Van Der Watt 86 VIEW Audrey Walker Ruthin Craft Centre, reviewed by Jane Audas, Catwalking: Fashion through the Lens of Chris Moore, The Bowes Museum reviewed by Grace Warde-Aldam. Pink: The History
of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color, FIT, New York, reviewed by JoAnn Greco, A Nomad’s Art: Kilims of Anatolia’ GW University Museum and The Textile Museum reviewed by Vanessa Larson 95 COMING NEXT The Renaissance issue: New Starts 96 SWATCH Favourite Fabric: No 45: Cloth of Scarlet Sarah Jane Downing, illustrated by Katrin Coetzer
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