A new collection of products introduced by Danish design brand, Menu, highlights the plight of poor and exploited women in Nepal. Four contemporary Scandinavian design firms have collaborated on Menu’s Nepal Projects, which aims to help build a local economy through which impoverished Nepalese women can avert the perils of prostitution by using their own textile skills to support themselves and their families. To be sold under the Menu label, Nepal Projects features a collection of contemporary home accessories and children’s toys, hand crafted exclusively in Katmandu, which combine the best of Scandinavian design sensibilities with traditional Nepalese hand applied crafts.
The Swedish studio, Afteroom, one of 4 Scandinavian studios contributing to the Menu Nepal Projects initiative, created the project’s mascot, Teddy, thanks to the textile weaving skills of Nepalese women in Katmandu. A minimalist Teddy Bear, which Afteroom says, “can be a home ornament as well as one’s beloved comfort object,” Teddy is a hand made 100% wool toy which retains the instantly recognizable profile of the classic Teddy Bear, sans the facial details.
Cashmere Throws Designed by Danish Design Studio, A Hint of Neon
A Hint of Neon, a Danish home interiors firm, is one of the four Nordic studios contributing to Menu’ s Nepal Projects, overseeing a range of gently colored hand-printed scarfs, cashmere throws and bed covers, each item hand woven in Nepal by women who might otherwise be forced into the sex trade.
Cashmere Throws and Bedcovers by Danish Studio, A Hint of Neon
Accessory Boxes designed by Stockholm’s Note Design Studio
Sweden’s Note Design Studio’s contribution to the Nepal Projects is a collection of cashmere and merino wool pillows and a suite of accessory boxes.
Pillows and Accessory Boxes by Stockholm’s Note Design Studio
Via Wallpaper
