Wastepaper & Scraps of Fabric Not Only Make for Colorful Accessories but Also Help the Poor, Thanks to the Newly Launched Eco Design Lab Where You Get to Vote on the Designs that Get Produced. FASHIONTRIBES FASHION BLOG

To help the urban poor, the groovy Discovered In site (DiscoveredIn.com) recently launched Eco Design Lab, an incubator for artisans in developing nations. The goal is to help the underprivileged form thriving cooperative businesses by providing workspace, skills training, business education, finance, sales and marketing services. "My aim is to have several groups of artisans producing handcrafted products from workshops in their own communities," explains the founder, Paul Barnett, who has been working with artisans in poor communities in Brazil since 2005 . "They will be doing crochet, carpentry, pottery, tannery etc. The poor often have handicraft skills already, but employ them to make old fashioned products that are the same as everyone else is making. As a result they compete on price only, earn little for their effort, and remain poor. The problem is these people are not worldly wise and have no access to information about current fashion trends and forecasts from around the world."

A novel approach to using fashion for good, the Eco Design Lab will feature new designs each month by established designers, emerging talent and student designers - which have been pre-screened by the site's roster of designers who support the Lab. Designs which pass muster will be posted for review and comment by readers, who then vote for the winning design - which will then be produced by the artisans, and and marketed by DiscoveredIn.com, with the designer earning a design royalty. "I see this as a way to get great design ideas from those with their finger on the fashion pulse and match them to the skills of the poor who could never come up with such valuable ideas. It's also great for the designer who will be doing something good for the poor, for the environment and for themselves."

To launch the Eco Design Lab, the Creative Jewels Collection crafted from waste paper, scraps of fabric and ceramic beads was chosen because of its eco-friendly recycled materials and coiorful selection. Barnett says, "For me these products say so much about Brazil and the people who made them. They are bold, bright, colourful and lively. They are elegant, stylish and imaginative. They make beauty out of ‘nothing’," says Barnett. "I am talking about the jewellery, but the description would be equally appropriate if I were describing the poor people that make it. This is the type of work that inspired me to set up Eco Design Lab."
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More info on Creative Jewels Collection is at EcoDesignLab.com. While the Lab is designed to attract established designers, emerging talent and student designers, the door is also open for anyone, so why not have a go? To register, email paul@ecodesignlab.com.

- Lesley Scott

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