Nairobi Design Studio
BADLY missing my digital camera - it took me 20 years to buy finally buy one and only five weeks to lose it - how strange.
The studio is almost done - thanks to Nickson's innovative and simple furniture building we will have a gorgeously oval 6'x4' design & sewing table + a 2-story sample t-shirt rack including polished aluminum rails. 2 coats of varnish and you would think there was an Inform Interiors in Nairobi.
First t-shirts being sent to the USA, Canada and Australia hopefully this week. Our first systems are basically in place with a few kinks to work out in the next month but the shirts look amazing and finally Barbra has decided to think of designing one. She has been training as a 'Design Researcher' - this woman can find anything in Nairobi and hopes to use her income to go study at Langara in Vancouver. I keep saying to her - just make sure you come back with all your new ideas and share them with Kenya - the brain drain doesn't have to be permanent - it can be cyclical and we can 'mutually use each other' as I like to say. My space is available in Canada - she can take it for a while.
Boatloads of Africans washing up the shores of Europe are an opportunity aren't they? And it they were crafty enough and warmly dressed for the journey through the North Sea - Putin wouldn't have to pay people to proliferate. Why is everybody so afraid of Africans? They may not be as organized as the Japanese but they're definately tidier than the French. Didn't the colonies think about this when they came so eagerly last century, that one day the common language and a reversal in fortunes might bring explorers to their doors? Why do France and Germany and England and Italy and Spain get all these great historical explorer books written about them but the Africans are only afforded short CNN-shock news sound bites? If the Africans had big white sails and shiny weapons would the Europeans behave more graciously?
Was watching this terribly slow-talking migration specialist on Sky News this morning who said the most insightful thing I think I've heard on the network since I've been here. Although I think the weather girl is rather charming, let's face it Sky News is a bit like watching a football match - all hype and timeout music. Anyway, he said that the main problem adding to global poverty was that although capital was free to move around the world people weren't. That millions of dollars could be zipped into a foreign market within minutes but that we are using some of that same money to build fences to keep people out. Those of us with capital are able to take advantage of it going somewhere to increase it's return for us - but we're not allowing those without capital this same luxury. They really only have themselves and their hands to build a future but if we don't let people move as easily as money does the rich are only going to get richer.
So we have Barbra, Dennis, Rose, Joseph, Nickson, Jake, Muba and Amit all doing work for the business on a trial/freelance task basis. Everyone has such different skills and schedules that I am trying to find ways for them to contribute in the best way possible for the demands of the business while complimenting their existing needs. I am hoping to put together an evening sewing team of a dozen or so gals or men I suppose, who will see this kind of hand work as valuable - so they can pick up extra cash, mind their kids and pass some time in the evenings. Joseph has fabulous style and do does Barbra - Dennis as well although he's a bit quieter. I don't think Rose quite knows what hit her when I took her up on her offer to find some work for her son and 3 weeks later he's off to Med School. Muba and Amit are entrepreneurs, Jake is a techie and Nickson, my favourite of all things, is a builder.
I was telling my friend last night at the Carnivoire that the reason I love building and architecture so much is having grown up around it with my dad. Freshly cut plywood is like home-baked cookies for me so being around Nickson and his crew is so lovely - to watch them cut, nail and polish the furniture we sketched out and quoted together on a dusty piece of paper is so gratifying. Can't wait to send photos back home so all the amazing friends and supporters can see our progress here.
In less than four weeks we have a fully operable design studio with orders being exported to 3 different countries. If I had made a list of all the people who answered all my questions about how to get things done it would have at least a hundred names on it like Frederick or Josephine or Samuel. And when I think back to the past two years when I stared out the window or lay in bed awake in the week hours of the night wondering how the hell was I going to make this work halfway across the world in Nairobi - it all seems so clear now. This business was designed to work in favour of Kenya - it's passions, it's less-than-educated, it's craftspeople, it's women and orphans - and it is starting to work despite all my fears or others dumped upon me by those more fearful than I. And that is what Africa needs most from all of us - a big leap of faith that if we can just get out of the way and empower people here who have good ideas and the talent to bring them to life, that trade will eventually replace aid.
I absolutely cannot wait for this moment - when the Kenyans are too busy to be angry or disappointed in the rest of us or a corrupt system of their own - that they instead increasingly turn inwards and remember that right in their own hands they have everything they need. Like Nickson and his tools and a beautiful little money-making skill-building studio that a month ago was an empty room with a view.
Wish of the Day - that Barbra will be accepted to Langara College in Vancouver
Consequent of this wish - that I will have to replace her when she does
dbwa, Sue
The studio is almost done - thanks to Nickson's innovative and simple furniture building we will have a gorgeously oval 6'x4' design & sewing table + a 2-story sample t-shirt rack including polished aluminum rails. 2 coats of varnish and you would think there was an Inform Interiors in Nairobi.
First t-shirts being sent to the USA, Canada and Australia hopefully this week. Our first systems are basically in place with a few kinks to work out in the next month but the shirts look amazing and finally Barbra has decided to think of designing one. She has been training as a 'Design Researcher' - this woman can find anything in Nairobi and hopes to use her income to go study at Langara in Vancouver. I keep saying to her - just make sure you come back with all your new ideas and share them with Kenya - the brain drain doesn't have to be permanent - it can be cyclical and we can 'mutually use each other' as I like to say. My space is available in Canada - she can take it for a while.
Boatloads of Africans washing up the shores of Europe are an opportunity aren't they? And it they were crafty enough and warmly dressed for the journey through the North Sea - Putin wouldn't have to pay people to proliferate. Why is everybody so afraid of Africans? They may not be as organized as the Japanese but they're definately tidier than the French. Didn't the colonies think about this when they came so eagerly last century, that one day the common language and a reversal in fortunes might bring explorers to their doors? Why do France and Germany and England and Italy and Spain get all these great historical explorer books written about them but the Africans are only afforded short CNN-shock news sound bites? If the Africans had big white sails and shiny weapons would the Europeans behave more graciously?
Was watching this terribly slow-talking migration specialist on Sky News this morning who said the most insightful thing I think I've heard on the network since I've been here. Although I think the weather girl is rather charming, let's face it Sky News is a bit like watching a football match - all hype and timeout music. Anyway, he said that the main problem adding to global poverty was that although capital was free to move around the world people weren't. That millions of dollars could be zipped into a foreign market within minutes but that we are using some of that same money to build fences to keep people out. Those of us with capital are able to take advantage of it going somewhere to increase it's return for us - but we're not allowing those without capital this same luxury. They really only have themselves and their hands to build a future but if we don't let people move as easily as money does the rich are only going to get richer.
So we have Barbra, Dennis, Rose, Joseph, Nickson, Jake, Muba and Amit all doing work for the business on a trial/freelance task basis. Everyone has such different skills and schedules that I am trying to find ways for them to contribute in the best way possible for the demands of the business while complimenting their existing needs. I am hoping to put together an evening sewing team of a dozen or so gals or men I suppose, who will see this kind of hand work as valuable - so they can pick up extra cash, mind their kids and pass some time in the evenings. Joseph has fabulous style and do does Barbra - Dennis as well although he's a bit quieter. I don't think Rose quite knows what hit her when I took her up on her offer to find some work for her son and 3 weeks later he's off to Med School. Muba and Amit are entrepreneurs, Jake is a techie and Nickson, my favourite of all things, is a builder.
I was telling my friend last night at the Carnivoire that the reason I love building and architecture so much is having grown up around it with my dad. Freshly cut plywood is like home-baked cookies for me so being around Nickson and his crew is so lovely - to watch them cut, nail and polish the furniture we sketched out and quoted together on a dusty piece of paper is so gratifying. Can't wait to send photos back home so all the amazing friends and supporters can see our progress here.
In less than four weeks we have a fully operable design studio with orders being exported to 3 different countries. If I had made a list of all the people who answered all my questions about how to get things done it would have at least a hundred names on it like Frederick or Josephine or Samuel. And when I think back to the past two years when I stared out the window or lay in bed awake in the week hours of the night wondering how the hell was I going to make this work halfway across the world in Nairobi - it all seems so clear now. This business was designed to work in favour of Kenya - it's passions, it's less-than-educated, it's craftspeople, it's women and orphans - and it is starting to work despite all my fears or others dumped upon me by those more fearful than I. And that is what Africa needs most from all of us - a big leap of faith that if we can just get out of the way and empower people here who have good ideas and the talent to bring them to life, that trade will eventually replace aid.
I absolutely cannot wait for this moment - when the Kenyans are too busy to be angry or disappointed in the rest of us or a corrupt system of their own - that they instead increasingly turn inwards and remember that right in their own hands they have everything they need. Like Nickson and his tools and a beautiful little money-making skill-building studio that a month ago was an empty room with a view.
Wish of the Day - that Barbra will be accepted to Langara College in Vancouver
Consequent of this wish - that I will have to replace her when she does
dbwa, Sue
posted by Sue Stanfield at 10:19 AM
1 Comments:
Here are some links that I believe will be interested
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