Seaweed placemats drying in the sun in Bangladesh
Our manufacturing in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, our placemats and baskets are made from seaweed and jute. The products are made by hand using a sewing machine or just needle and scissors. The women and men who work in the factory are enormously skilled with the sewing machine and a placemat or basket can be produced in just a few minutes. Careful quality control of each product is usually carried out by women with long experience in the craft.
Coarse seaweed placemats are braided by hand using a needle and scissors.
Quality control of placemats
Our manufacture of rugs in India
Almost all of our rugs are manufactured in India, both jute and rubber doormats as well as sisal rugs. All of our unique jute rugs are hand woven from machine or hand spun jute yarn. Our durable sisal rugs are machine woven on large automated factory looms.
A jute rug grows on a traditional handloom in Kerala -India
Shuttle is filled with jute twine
Kerala
Over the years, various weaving societies have been formed in Kerala to enable men and women to work full-time or part-time in the vicinity of their homes but with similar rights to factory work. The oldest association now consists only of elderly people and many looms have not been used for a long time and are unfortunately unusable. When these workers retire, the weaving associations are likely to gradually die out. For example, it takes a special loom and five people with long experience to hand-weave a jute rug 4 meters wide. It is only here in Alappuzha that the old handloom tradition is still alive and they are keen to keep it alive but realize that it can be difficult as the younger generation has other desires in life.
However, there are also more modern associations that take in jobs to relieve various companies during high season or larger special orders. Here, the new automated weaving technology is mixed with the old craft tradition.
A private person (foreman) sometimes has a weaving mill at home on the farm with a few looms and employees. The foreman receives an assignment and then makes all the calculations regarding material consumption, time consumption and quality control, etc. He then gets paid per square metre, per piece or per hour depending on the product the assignment refers to and its scope.
The workers then have an hourly wage and certain other benefits corresponding to ordinary factory work.
Home weaver
The edges of all our jute rugs and doormats are folded by hand.
Each individual handwoven jute rug undergoes a process where loose jute fibers are burned away and the surface takes on a significantly higher luster than it had before it was burned off. The difference can actually be seen with the naked eye.
The factory has its own department for quality control. Their job is to locate any fault, identify the fault and also come up with a solution and cost estimate for the same. The department has full mandate to stop deliveries or ship an incomplete delivery if the quality does not live up to expectations.
We visited the factory in Kerala where only some manufacturing of the sisal carpets takes place. Most of the preparation, weaving and confectioning now takes place in a larger factory in Tuticorin, which is a few hours north of Allepey. However, the material and quality of the carpets are the same regardless as finished coils of sisal material are transported to Allepey from Tuticorin to be woven, latex coated and made up as required.
We saw the entire machine weaving process that takes place on large factory machines. After weaving, the quality of the carpet is checked lying on the floor and any inaccuracies are marked with deviant thread. The carpet is then slowly rolled up vertically on a 30-metre-long roll, where a number of people correct any weaving faults in the meantime. The roll is moved to a machine that irons on liquid latex. The sisal weave is always 4 meters wide and 30 meters long initially. After latex coating and drying, the finished sisal rugs are cut and hemmed. This is done either with edge tape or so-called “self edge” where the edge is sealed with an extra latex tape.
Machine loom for sisal rugs
Locates weaving defects on sisal carpet by the running meter
Remedy of localized weaving defects on sisal carpet
Mechanical latex coating of sisal carpet
Sisal carpet on a roll before cutting it into a finished product
The rubber mats are pressed in a machine between two metal plates to get the right motif and shape. When the mats have a design with punched holes, the backing around the holes is cut by hand to remove any excess material. The production is fully traceable and the rubber mats are being REACH tested every month to maintain quality.
Waterhyacinth from Vietnam – Baskets that bind two worlds together
Many of our finest and most popular baskets are made by hand from water hyacinths in Vietnam. Water hyacinths are beautiful purple colour when they bloom. They cause a lot of problems though. They spread uncontrollably and clog up the watercourses that are an important source of fresh water around the Mekong Delta. The stalks can however be used. They are harvested, dried and hand woven by skilled craftspeople to become much-loved baskets and pouffes.
We are really proud of our baskets. Because of their attractive design, but perhaps most of all because of our long-term, close partnership with our producer in Vietnam. A well-run, sustainable factory a short distance from Saigon which makes the supply-chain of raw material both simple and cost efficient.
Weaving at home
Baskets woven by hand
Natural, local production
We are really proud of our baskets. Partly for the good design, but perhaps mostly for our long-term and close collaboration with our manufacturers in Vietnam.
Our largest supplier has a well-run and sustainable factory located right on the river a few miles outside of Saigon. The location of the factory is very advantageous because the water hyacinth can be quickly and easily transported there after harvesting. In the case of full-scale production, the material is sent out to different families who weave, alternatively to a supervisor who also has the opportunity to store larger quantities of the material. She then distributes the work to other families in the village. The family, mainly the women, can then adjust their working hours based on everyday matters, such as the children’s school times and market visits.
Some farmers in the area both grow, harvest, store and weave the water hyacinth. Our supplier buys all the material they need from the farmers. They pay for the material per kilo and the weaving is paid per product. The price is set based on how much material is used. A twisted product is thus more expensive than a plain woven product. Not because it is more difficult to manufacture, but because more material is used when twisting the stems.
Weaving at home
A skilled craftsmanship of high quality
A handwoven product of water hyacinth is a fascinating work of art that is painted before our eyes. The craftsmen are extremely skilled and a beautiful basket emerges in just a couple of hours. The finished woven baskets are picked up and driven to the factory for finishing and quality control. The baskets are first rinsed clean with water and sprayed with environmentally certified starch that holds the fibers together. They are then dried in the sun or in large drying cabinets depending on the weather.
Finally, the baskets are stored in a warehouse with optimal humidity (30-60%) before they are packed and shipped by boat to us in Sweden.
Quality control
Quality control and marking
Quality control
All baskets are checked manually to ensure quality before packing and delivery. Material that sticks out is cut away and repaired and supplemented with new material if necessary. The basket then moves on to the next station, which is marking and checking the goods against a reference sample. There are clear instructions at every stage of the process. The quality controls are numbered so they know who has checked what, which makes the process traceable in the event of any inaccuracies.
