In search of new collections, this August Myakka’s founders Simon & Georgie made the annual summer trip to India. They travelled the breadth of the continent to make visits to our long-standing suppliers and to meet some interesting new ones.
New Collections for Spring 2018
Our supplier visits are essential to working with our trusted partners on new product developments for the next season. Further to this trip, we are busy preparing for some brand new collections, including furniture, lighting and accessories, to be introduced in early 2018. Although we can’t give you specifics just yet (you’ll have to wait a teeny bit longer!) we can reveal that there will be exciting additions to some of our existing sheesham wood collections, new exciting lighting and lamps and fabulous colourful rugs and accessories. We’ll also be making new additions to our popular upholstered armchairs to add to our new collection introduced this Autumn.
Maintaining Special Supplier Relationships
Another very important part of our regular trips is to keep up to date with our Indian colleagues. We’ve been working together for so long now that our visits are rarely just business. It’s an opportunity to catch up with old friends and to make introductions with new ones. Community involvement is at the heart of Myakka. As part of our trading commitment, we collaborate to make a positive difference in our supplier’s local communities. In particular during this visit, we initiated meetings between SKSN School for physically challenged children and our main supplier. We’re working together exploring the opportunity for a vocational training project whereby a selection of children from the school can learn more about the skills of carpentry and the opportunities that can provide for their future.
Our Replanting Scheme is Flourishing and so are Communities
Keeping up to date with planting progress in Haryana was also important to Simon & Georgie during this trip. We launched our Replanting Scheme in 2014 working with a small group of farmers in Hisar. Our regular visits allow us to track the developments being made by the local farmers and work through improvements. By helping to replant Sheesham wood as a boundary crop, we are able to offer both environmental benefits and future income for farmers. It’s a developing project and really fantastic to see the difference this is making to community adoption and awareness.
Our Holistic Approach
So from planting new trees to developing new collections with trusted and skilled craftspeople, all at source in India, it really feels like the whole process comes full-circle. It’s this holistic approach that’s important to us at Myakka.
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