“Jewellery, I’m telling you. It’s a thing. And love. And maybe danger.” –Kami Garcia
If you’re already sitting at the edge of your seat going “Yes, yes, yes!”, we promise you’d love what we’re about to introduce to you today. First, promise us you’ll inch back into your seats and hang in there because these handcrafted jewellery pieces are about to sweep you off your feet.
So now that you’re tucked comfortably in your seats, we would like to first give you a little background as to why we are featuring this particular collection instead of the millions of other jewellery pieces out there in the market. Well, simply because this jewellery collection is a little more special than the ones you see out there, glamorously laid in the display windows of famous commercial jewellers.
Each of them were handcrafted out of a beautiful story and they collectively tell a story so powerful that it brings both love and danger, just like Kami Garcia said.
Also read: Think Singapore Lacks Creativity? The Growing Maker Movement Here Will Surprise You
This series that we want to introduce to you today is part of the Design For Good programme at Project Skillseed. Known as the Courage Collection, each piece is certainly handcrafted out of love and danger, as first-time jewellers come together under the care of Project Skillseed that links them up with professionals from Saught.
In a nutshell, Project Skillseed partners experts and top NGOs worldwide to co-create career-themed experiential learning programmes for youths and groups in Asia. In other words, they provide Real World Courses that serve Real Causes. Their programmes help expose individuals to different fields of interest and professional mentors (Saught, in this case) while empowering their community partners in sustainable ways.
This particular Design For Good programme was designed to provide participants with the opportunity to experience what it would be like to be a designer and social entrepreneur in the developing world. Design for Good comprised an abbreviated version of the ‘life cycle’ of the design and sales process as follows:
- Design conceptualisation in the country of residence
- On-site collaboration with artisans and production of jewellery (which was held over 8 days in Phnom Penh)
- Jewellery launch and marketing campaign back in the country of residence
In collaboration with Saught, who is Project Skillseed’s social enterprise partner that mentored the participants throughout the journey, participants learned how to create jewellery designs that embodied the theme of “Courage” and represented different social causes. They also explored how businesses can aim for social and even environmental sustainability by visiting and working with different social enterprises in Cambodia. More importantly, they got to work closely with Saught’s Cambodian artisans who handcrafted their designs to life from landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs). Finally, the participants are challenged to launch their own marketing campaigns to meet a predetermined sales goal within a month which will not only result in funding being channeled towards Saught’s mission, but also in their designs being accepted into Saught’s formal “Courage” collection.
Participants of this programme comprised of individuals from China, Singapore, India, and the Philippines while community partners, though based in Cambodia, were Cambodian, French, English, American, and Korean. This made the experience truly across borders and incorporated intercultural exchange of ideas, passion and knowledge.
As part of the marketing campaign this time round, participants have each launched their series on Haystakt, a Singaporean crowd-pricing platform. One of them that you see above is known as Dive, created by Shen from KAI Universe, and is inspired by the love of the ocean, and serves as a tribute to those who have needed the courage to dive into the unknown. The message she hopes to convey through this is how we all should take that plunge, because it is the precursor to discovery, which subsequently reels in rewards for being courageous.
Five other projects known as The Bee, Gingko, Peace and Justice, Dara, as well as Voyage are also up on Haystakt, waiting for you to check out their stories of courage, coupled with both love and danger.
It’s simply amazing to see what one can achieve within a mere 8-day programme and the ripple effect it has subsequently. If you’re sold out to their calling, head over to Haystakt’s page to support these lovely makers. Remember how Haystakt works – it’s all or nothing with a minimum goal of 2o orders, combined with a greater discount as more people order. So pull all your friends, families, dogs and cats together for this jewellery set that you know you want. Shop away and shop for good!
Also read: Singapore startup Haystakt lets you to set your own prices on the goods you love
