sasha celebrates World Fair Trade Day!

Two events were organised by Sasha for the Fair Trade Forum-India (Eastern region) -

One: As a run up to World Fair Trade Day on 10th of May-'Celebrating Recycle' - A contest on making products, art objects from recycled products and waste. The contest was organised at four places - two schools (one city based and one village based); a Fashion Technology Institute and a Government Art College.

On the 10th of May, a major event was organised at the Sasha Retail store, where the winners of the contest were recognised and prizes given by director of ICCR, Kolkata Chapter, Ms. Reba Som. Artwork by naga nandini, designer and recycled craft products by Sasha producer groups were exhibited. Approximately 50 people participated in the shop event of 'Celebrating the Recycled'.

Paper mache craftspersons from Orissa demonstarted their craft. Also jewelry making with recycled fabrics was shown.

Two: A seminar on environment, Fair Trade & Ethical Business. Organised by Sasha, Silence and other Fair Trade Organisations of Eastern India with support from Hivos. It was a joint alliance building exercise of Fair Trade forum India and 'Concern for Calcutta', an autonomous, not-for-profit society committed to promoting environment sustainability protection.

In addition to Fair Trade Organisations and members of ‘Concern for Calcutta’, panelists and participants joined from government, academics, industry, banks, and chambers of commerce. Students and volunteers as well as members from the press also were invited to cover the seminar and take it to the wider audience outside.

The audience was shown the Oscar award winning documentary by former us vice-president Al Gore- ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. The documentary is a gripping essay of the serious threat to the earth in terms of detrimental effects of human activities on atmosphere, land, water and habitat.

The film was followed by the final session involving the entire audience to find a way forward and aptly named ‘the way forward –small & big steps’. Approximately 70 people participated in the seminar.

1)      Katharine Nicolaete from Germany visited Sasha. She was writing an article for GEPA on production processes of embossed leather and stole weaving; with stories about craft persons, interviewing producers about the impact of fair trade on their daily lives.

2)      Caritas workshop-on enhancing quality of garments - workshop covered aspects on pattern setting, grading, cutting, finishing, ironing etc.

3)      Leelaji , Chief Executive of Sadhna visited Sasha and conducted a workshop on production management with Sasha staff- Textiles, Garments, Artisan Association & Craft Services along with representatives of twenty producer groups.

This year sasha celebrates 30 years - it was set up in November 1978. Starting in a small way, the sasha family is now large, vibrant and still growing.
Watch this space for news and events that mark this special year.

Producer Group Meeting at Shantiniketan - 2008. Read more...

Sasha celebrates World Fair Trade Day-May 12th 2007

Fair Trade is a global movement that is founded on the principles of equity, transparency, fair remuneration, capacity building, social security, gender neutrality, and concern for community, children and environment. It is a value based, alternative and sustainable business model that is becoming popular worldwide. Sasha is an active proponent of “Fair Trade” in India and is a key member of the global forum – IFAT and regional / country forums like AFTF, FTF India.

Globally, World fair Trade day is celebrated in the month of May every year. This year all the Fair Trade Organisations will celebrate the day on May 12, Saturday across the world. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Kids Need Fair Trade”.

We have been keen to involve children in this year’s Fair Trade day events and sensitize them about Fair Trade. In view of this we intended to organize a brief interaction session with the children of various schools, both urban and rural with an animated presentation depicting the relevance of Fair Trade in the lives of disadvantaged children, discussion with students and then conducting a poster competition on the theme, as a run up to the main Fair Trade Day event.

The animated presentation was in two languages- Bengali and English to reach a wider audience.
For the poster competition we involved children of aged between 7 to 12 years. The school authorities organized this event and also cooperated with all the arrangements.

Four schools participated in the event- two each from villages of Asurali and Birnagar and the city of Kolkata. Sasha coordinated the event together with the respective schools management. Subsequently a jury comprising of artists, designers and fair trade practitioners  adjudged nine best entries- three each from the rural and urban schools; three outstanding entries overall. The final awards were conferred on 12 May,   as a fitting finale to the World Fair Trade Day event at Sasha Shop by eminent artist Shri Suvaprassanna.

The entire event, i.e. the screening of the animated presentation, discussions, poster competition and the award ceremony was well documented and filmed.

Handcrafted, designed in India and Italy with 4 designers, produced by about 13 craft and textile groups with over 600 artisans, across 4 states in India, using and combining 15 different skill sets and materials, prototyped over a period of 9 months. To be sold in 4 continents both developed and developing, in the northern and southern hemispheres, through about 150 Fair Trade outlets the world over and through the smart set lifestyle stores & high end boutiques in India, AARAMSE 1° from SASHA ALTROMERCATO JV is indeed a global project in the true sense of the word !!

Aaramse was launched in India at the SASHA shop at Kolkata on 18th January by The Hon Consul General of Italy in Kolkata Mr AGOSTINO PINNA. It was launched in Bangalore at Cinnamon, a lifestyle store on the 19th of January 2007.

sasha farm weekends...

Support a healthy home and planet at SASHA Farm Weekends.
You can shop for basic necessities for your kitchen, while at the same time supporting rural producer groups who are dedicated to finding alternatives to toxic chemical fertilizers and unhealthy chemicals, colorings, and preservatives. Many of the products offered are organic or low-chemical, for conscientious consumers like yourself.

As the ideals of fair trade expand into food production, SASHA will begin to stock a small farm corner. Look for fruit jams and squahes by Ankur Kala, fresh herb cheese spreads from Santiniketan, pickles and spices from Ushagram, and more!