I was really pleased to discover GoodWeave at 2012’s London Design Festival – a global, not-for-profit organisation which is working to end illegal child labour in the rug industry and to offer educational opportunities to children in South Asia through the GoodWeave certification programme. Every year they run a student design competition and this year’s winner had just been announced. Charlotte Wildsmith’s rug is currently being hand-knotted ready for display at Decorex on Sunday 22nd September. I caught up the lovely people at Good Weave ahead of the show…
What’s the most important thing to know about GoodWeave?
GoodWeave is the “gold standard” when it comes to tackling child labour in manufacturing supply chains. We work on three fronts: building market demand for child labour free products, rescuing and rehabilitating children caught in forced labour and bonded labour on the looms, and preventing tens of thousands of children form entering exploitative work in the rug industry.
Why is important to offer children counselling, medical treatment, education and a home as well as just rescuing them from labouring?
Children found working on the looms are often traumatised and injured by up to 16 hour working days and harsh working and living conditions – they need psychological and medical help to recover from the experience. GoodWeave funds an education package for rescued children, either at a GoodWeave school or local educational establishments and will always endeavour to return a child to its home and community. However, if the child is at risk of being put back to work, he or she is given a residential place at a GoodWeave rehabilitation centre. By educating children, we hope to break the vicious cycle of inter-generational child labour: studies show that the majority of parents of child labourers were once child labourers themselves.
You’ve said that 17{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} market share over the next decade would be a “tipping point” for you. What does that mean?
Based on our research and knowledge of the supply chain, we have estimated that once 17{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} of the rugs produced globally are GoodWeave labelled, this will be the critical mass required to influence the majority of producers to adopt our standard and turn their backs on child labour. It is a goal we are working towards.
Why should consumers spend the extra money, especially in a recession, to buy a Good Weave rug?
The extra cost at retail is around 0.5{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} or £1 on a £200 rug or £5 on a £1000 rug, and so we are talking about a relatively small amount for each rug sold. Consumers who buy GoodWeave labelled rugs buy peace of mind, safe in the knowledge they have done their best to avoid contributing to the exploitation of children. In so doing, they also help adults to earn a fair wage and sustain artisan communities, whilst upholding the international laws of human rights. The addition of a few pounds on the cost of a rug is no excuse for exploiting children – even in a recession.
Why the focus on the rug industry?
The rug industry in South East Asia is a major employer and has been highlighted by international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation as an industry where child labour is still rife. In Afghanistan, the production of rugs is the largest, legal manufacturing industry and in Nepal, hand-knotted rugs is typically one of the top two exporting sectors. Human rights activist Kailash Satyarthi recognised the prevalence of child labour in the rug industry and set up the GoodWeave organisation to tackle the problem. To date, the success of GoodWeave has had positive ramifications outside the rug sector, with other industries adopting its economic principles and adapting it to market needs e.g. shoe industry in Brazil.
Why is it important to you to engage young designers in the Decorex rug competition?
The success of the GoodWeave model relies on “demand pull”: the more interior designers and consumers ask retailers for GoodWeave certified rugs, the more producers will be influenced to produce child labour free products. Students are the rug designers of tomorrow and as such they will have significant influence as to where and how a rug is made. An appreciation at the start of their careers of the ethical issues involved in rug production will, hopefully, influence the sourcing decisions they make throughout their working lives.
What advice would you give to a new designer wanting to design and make rugs?
When recommending and sourcing hand-knotted rugs, ensure they are supplied with the GoodWeave label on the reverse and then let your clients know the GoodWeave label is the best assurance they can have that a rug has not been made by children. The beauty of a rug comes not only from the design but from the adult artisans who made it.
What are you most proud of?
By building awareness about the widespread use of child labour in the rug industry and creating an effective certification system for child-labour-free rugs, GoodWeave is ending child labour, one rug at a time. Since 1995, 11 million child-labour-free carpets bearing the GoodWeave label have been sold worldwide, and the number working in the rug sector has dropped from 1 million to 250,000. GoodWeave is making a tangible, positive difference to thousands of children’s lives. Each time I visit our programmes, I meet children rescued by GoodWeave who have smiles on their faces and talk about their dreams. It lifts the soul.
Keep an eye on my design for good series for more from Good Weave – I’ll be sharing the stories of Akkas and Saraswoti, two of the children Good Weave has helped. And make sure you visit them at Decorex 22nd – 25th September.
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- out and about :: london design festival 2013 guide
- design for good :: supertalks
- interview :: psalt design
- interview :: peter opsvik & lars beller fjetland
