Made in Mongolia is a new range of clothing spurred on by Irish designer Pat McCarthy and supported by Avoca Handweavers. Deirdre McQuillanadmires the initiative.
This vibrant collection of scarves, slippers, cushions and bags began with a Tibetan monk in Co Cavan: Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche, spiritual director of Jampa Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre. Two years ago the designer Pat McCarthy, who has been a visitor to the centre for 15 years, was asked to get involved in a voluntary project set up by Rinpoche's Asral Charity in some of the poorest and most disadvantaged areas of Mongolia. Rinpoche spends two months a year in the country, which has ancient Buddhist links with Tibet.
McCarthy is no stranger to design projects, having last year managed Avantcraft, an innovative two-year European design programme helping craft companies develop their products and bolster design skills. The challenge in Mongolia of moving traditional crafts in more contemporary directions for new markets was a similar impulse, but in very different and difficult conditions.
The project is about teaching women, heads of households without partners, self-sufficiency. McCarthy travelled to Ulan Bator, the capital, to see a felt and sewing project, and to the Gobi Desert, to see traditional felt-making, and he learned about the country's textile heritage at an impressive exhibition of Mongolian royal costumes.
"I did a report as to how the project might develop. It was about softening the felt, looking at new designs, introducing colour and changes in the procedure. I also felt it was important to have a good retail partner, and back home, Amanda Pratt of Avoca agreed to come on board."
The result of the two-year project is a brand named MIM, or Made in Mongolia. "The Mongolians have wonderful costumes and great handwork traditions, but doing traditional embroideries by hand is very time consuming. When we got the first few samples Amanda suggested design modifications to make the range suitable for the Avoca customer," says McCarthy. The collection, which now goes on sale in Avoca shops, consists of colourful cushions, bags, felt slippers with suede detail and scarves with cut-out motifs.
The project, which initially began with 15 people in Mongolia, now employs 50. "The great thing about it," says McCarthy, "is that it has made a real difference - and the women are coming together collectively to work on the felt rather than working alone in their homes and they are applying Mongolian traditions of sewing and knitting in a new way. We are now developing camel hair and cashmere in new designs. A little can do so much based on voluntary effort."
Profits go straight to Asral Charity in Mongolia.
See www.madeinmongolia.net and www.asralmongolia.org