Journal

Hello from Brazil! For those of you who follow Common Texture's journeys you know that we are always on the lookout for traditional crafts and ethical home decor and accessories. It is not always easy finding the artisans however, especially when residing in big cities. Small artisan communities are often tucked away in remote places. So we were very happy to stumble upon an exhibition about the Kayapo Women at the Memorial of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil’s capital, Brasília. The Kayapo women and their work The Kayapo people are an indigenous tribe that lives in a territory located in the...

We go bananas over our woven banana fiber bags! We love the natural look, color, strength and durability that comes with hand weaving a product from a natural fiber. Zero waste banana plant Another fact we love about creating bags with banana fiber is that almost all parts of the plant are being used. Nothing goes to waste! You can eat the fruit of course, but the flower, peel and stem are also edible. In South India the beautiful long leaves of the banana plant are used to serve food on during special celebrations such as weddings. Banana plants grow...

One morning while threading my favorite pair of Common Texture wood earrings through the tiny hole in my ear I thought how amazing it was that the tradition of hanging jewellery from ones ear spans back over 5000 years, right back to the Egyptians and the uncovered Otzi the iceman, who was found with earrings. It got me thinking about my own ear piercing history.    A little (personal) earring history I remember nagging my parents every year to get my ears perforated and finally at age 14 they relented and Mum took me to the local pharmacy to experience...

  The idea for our Do Good Yoga Mat Bag originated from the time all Common Texture's co-founders were living in India. You can't live in India without trying out some form of yoga right? So many kinds of yoga classes, so many ashrams, retreats, workshops and master classes to choose from. It was inevitable that one of the Common Texture team would be bitten by the bug. India's textile waste problem The second thing you can't avoid whilst residing in India, is textiles. Besides the regular stores we visited stalls outside of the commercial areas. Some shops were neatly...

During our stay in India we were surrounded by the most amazing textile arts, from weaving to silk painting and everything in between. The technique we really fell in love with was the traditional art of block print. Traditional block print technique   There was a lot of opportunity to participate in courses and workshops all over India, after we had a few under our belt, we were bitten by the bug. We toured block printing studios all over the country during the early stages of Common Texture. Block Print is a technique steeped in history that dates back to...