Nike Sweat shop workers

To truely understand what its like to live on less than 1 dollar a day in Indonesia check out this film by Jim Keady, Behind The Swoosh..

Whilst in Indonesia I was lucky enough to meet Dita Sari (featured in this film), Dita was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment after protesting against

sweat Shops, and released after 4 years due to pressure from Amnesty International.

Dita Sari then set up The Swarna Institute to help workers get better pay and form trade unions, she is

a true inspiration to my work.

Interview coming soon....

Distro Bandung

Southeast Asia’s financial crisis struck Indonesia in 1997 and quickly turned into a political and economic crisis.

With many people loosing their jobs and homes, this effected the area of Bandung, where Poverty levels increased by 30%, which led to the birth of Distro

Distro

•Began as reaction against expensive mass produced brands.

•Deriving from the urban street culture

•Where youth made their own clothing

•To express their individual identities and lifestyle interests.

•Bandung is the centre for textiles and clothing manufacturing in Java

•Which lead to Distro entrepreneurs opening their Shops selling their goods

These retailers are called DISTRO

There are now over 200 Distro outlets in Bandung selling clothing, toys and accessories.

Fair Trade Ikat

During my trip to Indonesia I discovered Ikat through Oscar Lawaletta’s exhibition in Jakarta. The colors and patterns of Ikat inspired my work, rich in traditional values and culture, Ikat was passed down through generations.

• 30 years ago homegrown Cotton and natural dyes were grown all over Indonesia for Ikat..

• But poor economics, meant that communities were forced to stop growing cotton for extra income as weaving no longer made economic sense.

• With modernization came cheaper cloth and bright chemical dyes

• Threats from the global market forced weavers to act quicker so they abandoned growing cotton and natural dyes
• Pockets of weavers still remain, but in poor marginal areas of Indonesia.

After researching into fair trade organizations, I only found one certified fashion company in the whole of Indonesia.

This business is based in Bali called Threads of Life.

Threads of Life encourages weaving communities to revive techniques of weaving and natural dyeing that are in danger of disappearing.

Clean Batik Campaign

Indonesia has the finest batiks in the world, each piece of cloth can take up to 12 months to create, depending on the quality of design on fabric. Whilst in Indonesia I visited an array of producers who used a range of colours and motifs from different cultures and regions of Indonesia, their are around 13500 designs in total, and more always being made.. A trip to The Ministry of trade highlighted how large the batik industry is their are 48,287 batik producers in Indonesia, who employ 792, 285 workers

Although Batik is a flourishing trade this has come at a price :-

• Batik produces the highest annual emission of CO2 as a result of high dependency on kerosene and electricity.

• The Indonesian Ministry of Environment has identified batik as one of the worst river polluters in the country.

The Clean Batik Initiative, a 4 year program implemented the German Indonesian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The Consisting of three components;- sustainable production, sustainable consumption and policy dialogues. By Supporting Batik producers and helping them produce cleaner and greener batik.

Clean Batik Initiative:-

• Trains batik makers in the art of clean batik
• Supports Green production
• Promotes producers internationally
• Supports an International Dialogue

Regenerate Indonesia Intro

Hello I'm May Cortazzi (AKA Miss Regenerate), I am thrilled and feel very honored to be one of the five short listed for the British Councils UK Fashion Entrepreneur Award 2010. Over the next four weeks I will be blogging to you about my crazy and colorful experiences within the Indonesian fashion Industry.

The first week I will undertake an organized tour organized by the Council which is hosted by a lifestyle magazine called Femina, where I'll be experiencing a varied and exciting journey of The Indonesian Fashion Industry, from the perspective of a designer, Shop collaborator and ethical education campaigner. I will call this experience Regenerate Indonesia, as I'm hoping to learn as much as possible about Indonesia in the context of fashion and looking to spread Regenerate to a global market, collaborating with the people I meet on the way, Miss Regenerate Style. If you are curious as to know what my style is then check out my websites for The Shop and Regenerate.

I will be spending next 10 days in Jakarta, Bandung and Solo visiting a whole range of cultural centers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs with the view of gaining a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges that wait for me in this exciting new emerging economy.

I have then extended my trip an extra 3 weeks, where I will be meeting and living with key workers, designers, artists and collectives. Developing ideas and exciting new opportunities.. my lips are sealed into this leg of the journey, so you will just have to stay tuned and follow me on twitter and facebook. ;)

So with an expandable suitcase the size of Brazil next stop is Gatwick airport, where I will meet my fellow entrepreneurs.

Read about this trip here:-

http://ukyfe.wordpress.com

May Cortazzi

Madness Indonesia

Madness is a project that combines 3 designers based in Jakarta. Those designers are: Ajeng Dewi Swastiari, Bonnie Natasha Arif and Vannie Astecat. They life in a dual perspective and also they believe everybody has two sides that are opposite. Their dark side even could make something creative. They define their project that made by their alter ego by adding craziness, unpredictable and things that are surreal that come from their dreams. As a result their collection is full of things that are unexpected.

A tribute for Indonesia Culture that we adore. The materials we use come from Indonesia, for example: woods, furs, songket, batik, weaving arts and even prade Bali. We process these materials unusually to produce a strangely beautiful accessories.

When their soul meets the body, it has it own way to put them up together without knowing the reasons, yet still reachable for them to see and to grab it. They believed that their alter egos would simply pull out such a breathtaking breakthrough in fashion nowadays and tomorrow. They are
m a d n e s s.