Bholu collaboration with Porters Paints

(photos from Bholu website)

I was invited to the launch of Bholu's wallpaper design collaboration with Porters Paints by an interior designer friend and I'm very sorry I missed it as this range is super cute- and there are even matching soft toys to the wallpaper prints.
Bholu is a fair trade and climate neutral company that whose designs are brought to life by traditional artisans in rural India.
Part proceeds from the collection go back to the Bholu Anganwadi Project which has now built a total of 8 pre schools with Architects Without Frontiers Australia, in underprivileged communities.
In 2008, Bholu won the Australian Telstra Business Award for Social Responsibility for demonstrated leadership and contribution by a business to the environment, people, education or the community. Most recently Bholu was selected as TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential Green Designs of 2009.

I think I have just worked out what to get my friend who just had a new baby...

Tika

I used to pop into the old Skipping Girl shop for a bit of fun on my way walking to my friend's house in Bondi. Sadly it is no longer there, but I discovered some very skipping girl looking products at Koskela last time I went there (on a tangent, I must write about Koskela).

It turns out Skipping girl has teamed up with a Peruvian woman to make a range of sustainable accessories, toys and homewares called Tika.
'Its aim is to combine the Peruvian women’s traditional knitting and crochet techniques with Allen’s own contemporary design skills to create a new and original range of lifestyle products.'
'At the Peruvian end of this unique partnership are 280 women from two of the capital’s most populated districts, Tres de Mayo and Cerro Candella. The aim is to help these people of the Candela district earn a sustainable income for them and their families.' (images and text from website)

Tika also has a whole section on their website in relation to their involvement in community development projects. Such an inspiration.