Bags that will brighten lives
The Tea Tang boutique on Havelock Road, just past the Thunmulla junction has as you would expect – an array of tea in its shop window.
Curiously enough –it has also displayed invitingly – a selection of colourful bags.
If you do walk in, you won’t regret it for the tea and paintings by artist Sangabo Dias apart, these are designs entirely worthy of a closer inspection.
Made of bright and sturdy handloom, the bags are beautifully stitched by craftswomen from different parts of the country.
Empowering these craftswomen through ‘Shakti’ as this Tea Tang CSR project is called, began one and a half years ago when Nimmi Mendis Amarasuriya was on holiday here from Singapore.
Told of some needy women looking for a means of livelihood when she was in Ahungalle, she looked for a way to help.
Nimmi and her mother Keerthi Mendis had been following a course in patchwork and quilting with a Japanese expert Sawako Chan and Nimmi had a brainwave.
She began teaching the women and soon they were showing remarkable progress.
Over the next few months, regular workshops were held for the women, whose numbers had grown – at the Tea Tang premises and Ms. Chan herself was on hand to teach them the finer points of colour and craft.
Always the perfectionist she made sure their work was neat and precise.
The bags are of different designs – drawstring pouches, pencil cases, little toilet cases, bigger tote bags and smart sling bags but they all are stamped with quality from the material used ( sourced or donated by big manufacturers like Barefoot and Raigam) to their very appearance.
They are all lined and in some cases, reversible.
What stands out also is the careful use of colour; the bags go from strikingly vibrant to elegantly simple- the choices are aplenty. And if you like a touch of the wild, there are bags with elephant designs and prints with wise old owls to pick up.
The little brown paper labels on the bags tell you who made the bags- whether they were created by Sachini, Indika or Ramani to name a few.
Pix by Indika Handuwala
There is common thread linking the creators–they are from difficult circumstances and the income generated from these sales helps them sustain themselves. Shakti reaches women from Ahungalle, Hikkaduwa, Rambukkana etc.
With the season approaching, the bags can be an ideal gift- moreover, each purchase will be a gift of empowerment to the talented and hardworking women who have made them.
The Tea Tang outlet at 11, Havelock Road is open from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. on weekdays and until 5 p.m. on Saturdays.