Meet Our Makers.... Ock Pop Tok, Laos
We are so excited to now be working with Ock Pop Tok in Laos to help elevate their brand and offer an international platform to sell their beautiful scarves and shawls.
Ock Pop Tok is a fair trade organization working to raise the profile of Lao textiles and artisans, to increase economic opportunities for, predominantly, women, and to facilitate creative and educational collaborations in Laos and worldwide. The fair trade benefits to their weavers includes a fair salary, health insurance, paid leave, and profit sharing.
Six Degrees can also give you the assurance that 50% of the purchase price of Ock Pop Tok products through Six Degrees goes directly in to the pocket of the individual who created it.
Using only the finest and locally sourced natural and organic raw materials each scarf and shawl is hand loomed with great skill and attention to detail by the highly skilled weavers in either the Ock Pop Tock workshop, or within villages through their outreach programme. See the weaving process in action:
Miss Noot is one of the weavers who makes the scarves that we sell. Like many of the master weavers, Ms. Noot observed her mother weaving for many years and began to weave by herself at 12 years old.
She is very proud that she is able to afford a living for herself and her family through weaving. Textiles is something that she always loved, and she enjoys collaborating with different customers and designers to create new patterns and colors to weave as it keeps her work interesting and challenging.
Whilst visiting the workshop in Laung Prabang, I tried my hand at weaving in one the many classes they hold daily as part of an outreach initiative to tourists.
I only really worked the foot peddle and shifted the shuttle from left to right, with the real detail of the finished piece being left to the professionals, it really showed me the the skills and training that are required in every creation.
With winter just around the corner, invest an a scarf or shawl that is not only cosy, and can dress any outfit up or down, but also makes a quiet statement towards fair trade practices in developing countries.