Shopping in Asia for a Good Cause by Cynthia Rosenfeld
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Raffles Le Royal Hotel
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Wandering the dusty streets of Phnom Penh in the mid-1990s, I stumbled upon a souvenir shop that would have gone unnoticed were it not for the hand-written sign in its cracked window. All items handcrafted by Khmer rouge victims, it read. That was enough to draw me inside to shelves piled haphazardly with silk-covered photo albums and floppy-eared elephant toys. Though I neither owned a camera nor had any kids to buy for, US$75 flew out of my pocket, and I left the shop with an unfamiliar sensation of accomplishment in place of my usual consumer’s remorse. I was helping to benefit the disadvantaged with perhaps my most honed, if hitherto frivolous, skill: shopping.
More than 10 years and countless purchases later, I’ve taken this philanthropic mission to heart, searching out ethically minded enterprises where my credit card can net me stylish items while actually doing some good.
I discovered one such place outside the Cambodian town of Siem Reap, where a leafy detour off the road to the Angkor temple complex leads to the atelier of Madagascan-born designer Eric Raisina. Raisina apprenticed in the Paris fashion houses of Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Lacroix before taking his talents to Cambodia, where he spent his first four years as a consultant to Artisans d’Angkor, a local NGO.
Following that, he built looms and spent a year teaching his staff of 12 to weave before launching his eponymous collection, which ranges from Angkor inspired couture silk gowns and organza shawls to simple fishnet bags that take their cues from nearby Tonle Sap Lake. A small selection of his designs is also available at the nearby Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor and Amansara resort.
American weaver Carol Cassidy recalls dodging water buffaloes on her first trip to Tbeng Meanchey, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold eight hours’ drive from Phnom Penh along a muddy road. Here, in the late 1990s, she began training a group of landmine victims on the silk loom, under the auspices of Vietnam Veterans International.
Cassidy says of her first moments in this disenfranchised community, “My eyes went damp, and I’ve worked in the worst parts of Africa. These women were eating dirt.” Since taking over that project in 2003 and renaming it Weaves of Cambodia, Cassidy has exported stylish Technicolor scarves and wraps to trend-setting boutiques in Tokyo and New York.
Shoppers wishing to peruse her collection closer to the source can spare themselves the trek to Tbeng Meanchey by visiting Lao Textiles, Cassidy’s workshop and showroom in Vientiane, Laos, which occupies a 1930s Franco-Lao mansion near the Mekong River.
Though modern Thai history has been spared the tragedies of its Cambodian neighbour, the relatively prosperous kingdom is not without needful communities. To alleviate some of the hardship experienced by ethnic minorities in Thailand’s mountainous north, such as drug addiction and forced prostitution, Her Royal Highness Princess Srinagrindara, the late Princess Mother, established the Doi Tung Development Project in 1988.
The high-profile charity initially focused on agricultural projects to replace opium cultivation, but made an unexpectedly fashionable turn in late 2000 by opening a non-profit retail outlet amid the chic design shops at Bangkok’s Siam Discovery Centre. At Mae Fah Luang, shoppers can look forward to a style-savvy collection of Issey Miyake–inspired women’s clothing and funky home-wares like raffia rugs. Designed by Ploenchan Vinyaratn “Mook” Pornsurat, a graduate of London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, all items are crafted by hill-tribe artisans, who share directly in the sales proceeds.
Internationally renowned Thai designer Manop Rachote is also committed to preserving and supporting the handicrafts of northern Thailand. In recent years he has teamed up with village women in Nan province to apply their unique basket-weaving traditions to his luxury-goods collection, which is sold at his outlet in Bangkok’s Gaysorn Plaza as well as at fashionable addresses from Beverly Hills to Sydney. Rachote’s line also includes organically farmed animal-skin serving tray and hand-painted ceramics.
In Vietnam, Hoi An-based Reaching Out (Hoa-Nhap) Handicrafts was founded in 2000 to teach mentally and physically challenged youth marketable skills in a familial environment. In a homey workshop that backs onto the scenic Thu Bon River, a rotating community of more than 30 young Vietnamese sews, carves, and paints the inventory sold in the chic street front boutique. Items include colourful, Fendi-inspired fabric handbags, lacquered lotus-flower serving trays, and a range of exceptionally huggable stuffed animals.
Occasionally, warm-hearted shoppers create philanthropic ventures themselves. One such couple, regular guests of the Amankila resort in east Bali, recognized the market potential of the crocheting traditions handed down from mothers to daughters in the nearby village of Manggis. In 2006, they organized funds to create Kasih Ibu (“Mother’s Love”), a weaving cooperative that now turns out sexy handknit skirts, dresses, and beach cover-ups that turn heads while providing the people of Manggis with a much-needed source of income. The goods are available in the gift shops of Amankila and its Balinese sister property the Amanusa , as well as at the Alila resort near Ubud.
And on the Thai holiday island of Phuket, another Amanresort, Amanpuri, stocks pieces by the Indian-born, Asprey strained jewellery designer Sandra d’Auriol, who donates her profits to Nepal’s Child Welfare Scheme. Serious jade-minded travellers to Hong Kong should make a private appointment with d’Auriol at her Art Deco residence in Repulse Bay. The house is a veritable gallery of her one-ofa-kind creations, from plaited-leather handbags hung from antique Chinese-agate handles to jade dragon charms dressed up with precious stones and 22-karat gold, every sparkling karat of which helps a Nepalese child in need. What could possibly be more fashionable than that?