Blog
What’s fresh at MESH?
Switzerland joins our growing list of International Customers.
In July we were delighted to welcome Suzanne Schmidt, Managing Director of “Change Maker”, a Fair Trade Company operating in Switzerland to our New Delhi shop. Suzanne operates three outlets in Zurich, one in Bern and this month is due to open another in Thun. We wish her every success with her new shop and very much look forward to working with her and hope the toys she has selected will become firm favorites with Swiss children.
Divali Treats shortly to be in Store
The 11th of July saw the departure of the Embroiderers from Kiran Swa Sahitya Samuah back to Champa following a 2 week long workshop in the MESH design studio. The women learned to make Kosa silk cushion covers which will be available in time for Divali in MESH shops. The designers behind the stylish images were two design interns from The National Institute of Fashion in Bhopal, Akanksha and Tushar.
The British Invasion!
The British Contact Group held their monthly coffee morning at the Delhi shop on the 13th of July and spent a couple of hours chatting and browsing the products before departing stocked up with home wares and gift items. The quality and cost of the items were enthusiastically commented on with many guests already planning return visits to introduce their friends! Following a short talk from Jacky Bonney explaining the ethos of MESH and its Fair Trade principles a donation of Rs 10,000 was received which had been earmarked to provide two water coolers for the weavers in Faridabad. The weavers had a large order to complete so these coolers would improve their working conditions.
We were especially glad to be joined by Ramachandran one of the partners of SochYo, a new organisation providing photography and graphic design support to NGOs without a fee who took this picture and many more for promotional material for our domestic marketing campaign.
Bang up to date Blue Mango Annual Report
Blue Mango, a very exciting unit working hard in Tamil Nadu, South India sent us their annual report. MESH is delighted to continue their work with this group whose lovely products have proved extremely popular both domestically and internationally.
Of special note in their report was their own special meals programme for homeless people in the nearby town. The women of Blue Mango are themselves either widowed, single, with disabilities or HIV positive but they contribute money from their wages to feed those less fortunate than themselves.
Korea Discover MESH
An exciting development for MESH occurred on the 19th of July when we received a buying enquiry from Korea for the first time. This extends the number of overseas customers to 11 one more and we’ll have a dozen! Interested in who else we supply to? Here is the list: - Australia, Britain, Canada, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and The United States.
With Great Sadness We Report the Death of Brother Christodas from Little Flower Colony
On a sad and somber note we were sorry to learn of the passing of Brother Christudas following a short illness on the 27th of July. Christudas ran the Little Flower Colony, look out for our article on his life and good works coming soon.
Launch of MESH Gift Vouchers
Many customers who visit our shops in Delhi and Hyderabad are often overheard commenting that “we must bring so and so here, they would love it!” in response to that our Domestic Marketing Manager who joined us back in May, Naasneen has developed, and this month launched, our exciting new Gift Vouchers. These come in 500 and 1000 denominations and can be redeemed against any of the shop products. They will make delightful presents for adults and children alike and come with a card handmade by our Artisans in The Psychically Challenged Rehabilitation Centre in Kankanady, Mangalore
(Please see our main news items about these.)
New Range of Children’s bed linen
Building on the popularity of our children’s soft toy range we have launched a range of children’s bed linen from our Artisans in Hubli . This range currently includes bedspreads and cushion covers to match the stuffed horse, tiger and large elephant toys. The bedspreads and a cushion cover are sold as a set and stand alone cushions can also be brought. So if your child has fallen in love with the soft toys a birthday/Christmas/Divali treat may be matching bed linen? We are also developing matching bags so children can stuff their nightclothes in them. The beauty of the designs are that the ears, manes and tails are loose so young children can tug on them and amuse themselves! Two further designs will shortly be available so if your favorite toy has not yet made it on to bed linen watch this space………….
The Seychelles Connection
The Four Seasons Resort in the Seychelles has placed an order for our cloth bags so in addition to the children’s bed linen, Hubli are now busy working on those too.
Thanks to Rhona Royal, a new volunteer in MESH, for putting all this news together.
Dated 5th August 2011
In July we were delighted to welcome Suzanne Schmidt, Managing Director of “Change Maker”, a Fair Trade Company operating in Switzerland to our New Delhi shop. Suzanne operates three outlets in Zurich, one in Bern and this month is due to open another in Thun. We wish her every success with her new shop and very much look forward to working with her and hope the toys she has selected will become firm favorites with Swiss children.
Extremely Cool Cushion
The 11th of July saw the departure of the Embroiderers from Kiran Swa Sahitya Samuah back to Champa following a 2 week long workshop in the MESH design studio. The women learned to make Kosa silk cushion covers which will be available in time for Divali in MESH shops. The designers behind the stylish images were two design interns from The National Institute of Fashion in Bhopal, Akanksha and Tushar.
The British Invasion!
Nothing better than a chat and shopping
The British Contact Group held their monthly coffee morning at the Delhi shop on the 13th of July and spent a couple of hours chatting and browsing the products before departing stocked up with home wares and gift items. The quality and cost of the items were enthusiastically commented on with many guests already planning return visits to introduce their friends! Following a short talk from Jacky Bonney explaining the ethos of MESH and its Fair Trade principles a donation of Rs 10,000 was received which had been earmarked to provide two water coolers for the weavers in Faridabad. The weavers had a large order to complete so these coolers would improve their working conditions.
We were especially glad to be joined by Ramachandran one of the partners of SochYo, a new organisation providing photography and graphic design support to NGOs without a fee who took this picture and many more for promotional material for our domestic marketing campaign.
Bang up to date Blue Mango Annual Report
Blue Mango, a very exciting unit working hard in Tamil Nadu, South India sent us their annual report. MESH is delighted to continue their work with this group whose lovely products have proved extremely popular both domestically and internationally.
Of special note in their report was their own special meals programme for homeless people in the nearby town. The women of Blue Mango are themselves either widowed, single, with disabilities or HIV positive but they contribute money from their wages to feed those less fortunate than themselves.
Korea Discover MESH
An exciting development for MESH occurred on the 19th of July when we received a buying enquiry from Korea for the first time. This extends the number of overseas customers to 11 one more and we’ll have a dozen! Interested in who else we supply to? Here is the list: - Australia, Britain, Canada, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and The United States.
Brother Christodas (Babaji)
On a sad and somber note we were sorry to learn of the passing of Brother Christudas following a short illness on the 27th of July. Christudas ran the Little Flower Colony, look out for our article on his life and good works coming soon.
Launch of MESH Gift Vouchers
Many customers who visit our shops in Delhi and Hyderabad are often overheard commenting that “we must bring so and so here, they would love it!” in response to that our Domestic Marketing Manager who joined us back in May, Naasneen has developed, and this month launched, our exciting new Gift Vouchers. These come in 500 and 1000 denominations and can be redeemed against any of the shop products. They will make delightful presents for adults and children alike and come with a card handmade by our Artisans in The Psychically Challenged Rehabilitation Centre in Kankanady, Mangalore
(Please see our main news items about these.)
New Range of Children’s bed linen
Building on the popularity of our children’s soft toy range we have launched a range of children’s bed linen from our Artisans in Hubli . This range currently includes bedspreads and cushion covers to match the stuffed horse, tiger and large elephant toys. The bedspreads and a cushion cover are sold as a set and stand alone cushions can also be brought. So if your child has fallen in love with the soft toys a birthday/Christmas/Divali treat may be matching bed linen? We are also developing matching bags so children can stuff their nightclothes in them. The beauty of the designs are that the ears, manes and tails are loose so young children can tug on them and amuse themselves! Two further designs will shortly be available so if your favorite toy has not yet made it on to bed linen watch this space………….
The Seychelles Connection
The Four Seasons Resort in the Seychelles has placed an order for our cloth bags so in addition to the children’s bed linen, Hubli are now busy working on those too.
Thanks to Rhona Royal, a new volunteer in MESH, for putting all this news together.
Dated 5th August 2011
