00:00All over the world, bags and handbags in particular are inseparably linked to their wearer.
00:08Simple and practical versions that can carry shopping or other mysterious items are humorously known as granny bags.
00:16They can be simple or intricate.
00:19And this handbag collective in Eswatini has looked to basket making to make something special.
00:26That makes me proud of being the Swati, who can make something that will be known around the world.
00:35And also it will just make people know much about Eswatini.
00:40And also the product that came from Eswatini, they just boom.
00:44We had one of our bags, Tembi, it's a Tembi bag.
00:49It was on Vogue magazine.
00:52And the love we put when making the bags, I think, also added value on the bags.
00:58The original design for these bags was inspired by how rural women in Eswatini were making woven baskets and mats.
01:06Product designer and developer, Philippa Thorne, had been working with master weaver Zintle Vilekati on a basket weaving project.
01:14In 2014, they started experimenting with techniques to showcase high value weaving.
01:21Why did they want to expand from baskets to bags?
01:25We started thinking that people have much of the homeware, like the baskets and the placements.
01:33And we also need to keep the women doing more work so that they can do something that people will buy more also.
01:43Besides that, we were inspired about weaving.
01:47I always say I have more than 50 techniques, so I can make a bag today, but next time I can make something else.
01:55The difference between a bag and a basket is that the bag is more refined, so the coin is less smaller than the basket.
02:05High value handbags would mean that the weavers would earn more.
02:09I really saw how in Europe craftsmanship was really highly valued as beautiful for its artwork, for its skill, for the heritage and culture and the stories that it told.
02:22And I really felt like sometimes the weaving here wasn't respected in the same way that it really deserved to be.
02:30And really being able to create something that would give the women a living wage, would be able to elevate weaving in the eyes of a global audience, really.
02:41But how did they overcome the practical challenges of designing functional handbags?
02:47This bag, the Zinte, was actually the first bag we ever made, and it was quite a process to develop it.
02:56So it actually was over the period of about a year from first developing the weaving side and then also the leather side.
03:02You know, in terms of the leather, we worked with an NGO called Nest.
03:07I reached out to them and I said, you know, I'm looking for someone with expertise in handbag design.
03:12And that's how we got introduced to our third partner, Sapna Shah.
03:16And then her, myself and Zinte embarked on this journey, you know, to kind of transform the placemats into these beautiful, you know, fully lined leather bags.
03:29What the three of us share in common is our values.
03:34And we all had very strong matriarchal influences in our life.
03:39Sapna had been working in a more corporate environment.
03:42And when she went back to India and she visited her grandmother, her grandmother basically showed her all the saris, the hand-woven saris she collected.
03:51And that really sparked her passion for hand artisan work.
03:56And then Zinte, you know, learning from her mother and her grandmother, she'd always been passionate about it.
04:01Myself, I was very inspired by my granny.
04:04She always had like piles of beaded jewelry and extravagant hats.
04:08So I think she kind of really sparked my interest in fashion, which kind of led me down this road of studying fashion and then coming out to Eswatini.
04:17The basket and wicker product market was valued at $585 million in 2023.
04:24But the artisans who harvest the grass and weave the products usually don't earn much unless the weaving and product design is exceptional.
04:33Cocoa Collection has been intentional about protecting the environment while empowering the lives of the women weavers they work with.
04:41How have they done this?
04:44We have a close partnership with Gone Rural and they're the ones who work with the women who conduct the annual harvest and they also color the grass fuzz.
04:52So on a sustainability side, we really want to keep working with natural fibers and also that, you know, something that's biodegradable.
05:02So, you know, once people are finished with our bags, we're not leaving a, you know, a footprint on the environment.
05:11But what are the possibilities for growth within the current production model?
05:15We will always focus on in terms of growth is, you know, product innovation and, you know, working with different weaving techniques and different natural materials.
05:24We're always on the lookout for, you know, green alternatives for some of the components we use.
05:30I mean, I'm following with great interest alternatives to leather, for example, and that's something we would like to incorporate in the future as there become more of those on the market.
05:40So maybe we should all take time to slow down and look at how grandma still does it instead of fast throwaway fashion.
05:50How could we impact the world if we shifted to classic timeless styles that make the world a better place?
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