A Peace Treaty..

Being lovers of all things handy craft, and promoting it as much as we can in Barcelona, we thought we would do a blog on one of our favourite accessory designers A Peace treaty, whose collections of scarves and jewellery are inspired by hand crafting cultures from the middle east, Asia, South America and Africa and aim at creating ethically produced artisan level accessories for the luxury fashion market..here is a little more of their story..

'Born in 2008, as a personal pact between Farah Malik, a Pakistani Muslim, and Dana Arbib, a Libyan Jew, A PEACE TREATY creates employment for skilled artisans working in places of socio-political strife, effectively supporting their technique and craft while elevating their products to the level of high design for an exclusive and international fashion audience.

Inspired by the hand-crafting cultures of the Middle East, Asia, South America and Africa, A PEACE TREATY was conceived when Arbib and Malik met while living in Rome. The two discovered that they shared both a love of high fashion and a desire to increase awareness of ancient, disappearing crafting traditions. Intermingling Arbib’s strong background in graphic, textile and product design with Malik’s history of developing multimedia marketing campaigns for social justice and human rights, they set about connecting discerning fashion connoisseurs with cache, boutique level artifacts from places typically seen only negatively through the media lens.

Each season, A PEACE TREATY travels to a particular region and seeks out local village artisans to re-define an accessory, designing limited edition pieces in style unique colorways. Each jewelry or scarf collection resuscitates ancient handmade textile and metalsmithing techniques that are at risk of extinction. Working with craftspeople in eight countries and injecting life and trade back into local economies, A PEACE TREATY employs artisans with above fair trade wages and invests in creating income generation opportunities for out-of-work artisans, disabled and widowed women.'

From http://apeacetreaty.com/pages/story

Industrial beauty Jean Prouvé..

                          

Biography:
Jean Prouve (1901-1984): French Industrial- and Furniture Designer and Architect. Jean Prouve is one of the most influential furniture designers of the early modern design movement, Jean Prouve introduced the machine age and industrial engineered modern design aesthetic to interiors in the steel, aluminum and architecture he created. He then continued her experiments with different materials.

Jean Prouve was both engineer and modern designer.
Jean Prouve was once quoted saying: never design anything that cannot be made.

Jean Prouve was born into an artistic family in Nancy, France; his famous father, Victor Prouve, collaborated with the great Art Nouveau artists Emile Galle and Louis Majorelle as a ceramicist. Jean Prouve himself was trained as a metal smith before attending engineering school in Nancy, and his intimate knowledge of metal remained the foundation of his work and career. After opening his own workshop in 1923, Jean Prouve began producing modern metal furniture of his own design as well as collaborating with some of the best-known French modern designers of the day, including Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand. His shelving units for the dormitories at the Cite internationale universitaire de Paris, designed with Perriand and the artist Sonia Delaunay in 1952, are perhaps the best-known examples of his collaborative work.

Jean Prouve always regarded himself as more of an engineer and constructor instead of a modern designer. He never designed for the sake of form alone, concentrating instead on the essence of materials, connections and production. Jean Prouve strove for the most constructionally and materially efficient designs, with such classic end results as the modern design Standard chair of 1934 and the Antony chair of 1954. Utilizing his innovative method of folding sheet metal, Jean Prouve designed a series of tables that have the perceived lightness of bridges and the presence of architecture. In the mid 1950s, Jean Prouve was forced to abandon modern design furniture production and began devoting his time to the challenges of prefabricated architecture. His own house, which he designed as a prototype, is now considered a major development in prefab housing.

from http://www.jeanprouve.com/