Woman Supporting Woman
Here at the Flower and Willow World and our parent company Moniko in KL, we are all about supporting our fellow woman on an international basis.
In 2008, our founder Clare, a packaging design specialist with a penchant for traditional textiles and clothes , had a ‘geisha’ makeover whilst holidaying in Kyoto, Japan. During this first visit to Japan, Clare became intrigued by the precision and attitude of the Japanese culture to design and presentation, that had been established for many, many centuries. Culture, history, art and personality all cling to the kimono and obi - which evolved in Japan in the 7th Century.
The capacity of the kimono to convey wealth, taste, age, gender, season, formality and occasion is enormous. Furthermore, Kimono were coded for messages regarding distinctions of rank etc. The composition of different colours and patterns during the year was simply , “nature fashioned into culture”. Luxury, high end Kimono and Obi ensembles nowadays have a price tag nothing short of ruinous!! (in the region of £15,000) But are quite magnificent and passed down from generation to generation as they always have been.
During the years to follow, Clare bought a few vintage kimonos and obis and hung them around her spare room at home in KL where she enjoyed walking around them, generally admiring them a lot.!
In 2011, whilst feeling very brave, she decided to cut into one of the beautiful kimonos and introduce the kimono to her sewing machine. The result was not that beautiful! but after a few attempts and after becoming re-acquainted with the art of sewing, results began to blossom, like the first ‘sakura’ cherry blossom in springtime.
Since the initial experiment, Clare spent many hours at her trusty sewing machine (which had now been upgraded to a newer model) to meet the demands for clutch bags, ipad holders, and many other accessories.
From 2012, we have worked with development groups and social projects in South East Asia, to build production capacity that can grow the business while supporting ladies groups, and groups with social and physical difficulties.
While Moniko and Flower and Willow honour the magnificent creations and artisans of yesteryear, one key objective is looking forward and helping to create a better present for as many people as we can help. These self help groups are in Malaysia and Cambodia. When selecting production partners we look for ways that can benefit and boost families and small communities by giving opportunities to people with difficult social situations or disabilities. These modern day artisans are paid a good price for their work. We supply all the materials, equipment and training where required, to ensure our supporters enjoy high quality products. Each product has a tag inside with the name of the person who made it.
Here is Soknak
Soknak
Only a few weeks ago , Clare and this amazing lady Candy said their goodbyes in KL. Candy and her teenage girls have been unpicking kimono and tying the individual friendship knots for our product range for more than two years.
Candy’s family are refugees from the Chin province of Myanmar, and came to Malaysia 10 years ago. As Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee convention, the local UNHCR office works to protect and ultimately resettle refugees, which takes many years. Employing refugees is a grey area, as there is currently no legal framework in place to make it legitimate (but hopefully this is about to change), but we were able to assist this family and make their stay in Malaysia a little easier.
We are so happy that Candy and her family finally have a new chance to build new lives in the USA.
If you would like to learn more about the Chin group this a good site:
https://www.rage.com.my/refugeesnomorechin/
As you can see here at Moniko and the Flower and Willow World we encompass woman of all nationalities !!