Equidade Tecelãs do Carmo Project

In November 2016 Fundação Vale and Raízes Desenvolvimento Sustentável signed a contract aiming to boost the craftwork social business that a group of women from Carmo started. Senhora do Carmo is a rural district located in Itabira (Minas Gerais). Beside the beautiful landscapes of moutains, the prose and the good food, there is also women with great talent for craftwork.

The group has been selected for the second edition of the Equidade Project due to its participation at the Agir Program, in Itabira, were we noticed the existence of a 100% feminin group who had a great will to start a business. But still in an early phase.

Raízes‘s experts organised group meetings and individual visits to identify leadership, to know the production, to understand individual profils and skills, as much as limitations, to map conflicts and, ultimately, to build a clear picture of the starting point for the group.

In January the work for a collective construction of a vision started. Between others results came up this one :

To be recognised as weaver of excellence in Minas Gerais for the quality and inovation of the product we create, as women of fibre transformers of their lives and their community, and as a collective and successful entrepeneurship.

(Tecelãs do Carmo Vision)

Craftwork implementation and product development

In parallel, the design workshop as been initiated through different stages, such as :

• Identity construction
• Identification of new material with local recourses (highlight on pitta fibre, bone and horn)
• Creation of reference frameworks, brainstorming of products, modeling exercices and sustainable fashion workshops.

The design process intends to follow the whole project so that the weavers can have the firt prototype of their new collection in August 2017.

In parallel, the business will be boosted thanks to technical support in management, benchmarking and getting in touch with the market.