A Melting Pot of Creative Minds How The Fabrick Lab join hands to benefit a Chinese village
What The Fabrick Labs founder Elaine Yan Ling Ng thought would be a "fun project" for Beijing Design Week has now become five years so far. This project is becoming bigger with the launch of the Un/fold collection at Lane Crawford.
"Several years ago, Ng (Winner of the 'Swarovski Designer of the Future Award 2015' and participant of Lane Crawford's "Visions From A New Generation" exhibition in Shanghai in 2015) was living in Beijing and had never been to Guizhou. She knew that the area was famous for its textile crafts, that batik was in need of broader appreciation, and that these traditions were gradually being lost to progress like many others, so it seemed like a good project to work on with a grant she received from Hong Kong’s Design Trust. The Guizhou villagers she visited were interested in expanding - but the more she found out, the more she realised she needed to do.
“It wasn’t just about getting the villagers to work on a project; I needed to design a sustainable ecosystem for their industry,” she says. After all, she reasoned, handcrafts were being out-competed by factory-made products, but could the two be knitted together in a way that used the best of both?
As with all social enterprises, the enterprise part was key to work as a business, from design to manufacturing and sales, but Ng had little experience of the latter two areas. Therefore, she reached out to Lane Crawford’s buyers for some advice and received a referral contact of Stellar Works, an innovative manufacturer of design-driven work, to help her overcome some of the production challenges.
“I went to meet Stellar Works and showed them how the textiles could be used in different applications,” she recalls. “But the key challenge they put to me was to scale it and to see if the Guizhou villagers could support the commercial grade of fabric we’d need. I also needed to find out practical details like how much fabric was needed for a sofa.”
The next step was to go back to the village and invest in large dye vats that would support the scale needed for commercial projects, as well as permanent lost-wax dyeing stations. They began producing fabric; Stellar Works was able to provide guidance and verification that the product was usable, and Lane Crawford advised on the commercial aspects.
“But Lane Crawford contributed more than that,” says Ng. “They took risks, and they helped to develop the collection range. They understand the ingredients - even the soybeans and the natural indigo - and they care about sustainability, and about preserving the handcraft. People thought batik indigo couldn’t be a high-end product, but we’ve developed beautiful products with it, and with Lane Crawford’s ability to see the opportunities.”
Moreover, what of future sustainability? “When I say sustainable, I mean in terms of knowledge, equipment and assets, not just income, as income doesn’t help build a foundation,” says Ng. With her help, the traditional knowledge and technique is now thriving again, and the equipment and assets for the village are continuing to be put in place. “One day,” she says, “they’ll own everything we’ve built.”
In Fabrick Lab’s collaborative work with Lane Crawford and Stella Works, there is a joyous, hope-giving proof that style, sustainability and thriving community craftsmanship can come together to impact future generations. And is there anything more fashionable than that?