SHOWCASING TALENTS OF THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED
As it stands, they are glad that they have managed to ride out the past two years. Besides having to overcome the retail crunch and a decreased demand for women’s accessories due, their focus was on ensuring their artisans could cope with the impact of the pandemic.
“The disruption to routines was difficult for the artisans as they had been coming to work consistently for a few years,” said Choo, of the various restrictions that the country has had to weather since 2020.
Due to interruptions and disruption to regular production, the Eden+Elie team decided to dedicate their time to training the artisans on new patterns and designs instead.
“We started teaching them to weave our medallion earrings, which is a circular pattern and requires different stitches. It was a more difficult pattern because the pieces themselves are really small compared to say, a bangle and the stitches have to be done in a certain way that had far less tolerance,” said Choo, adding that they also partnered with the Autism Resource Centre to provide job support and wellness checks for the artisans.
Source: Channel News Asia
