mention macedonia

mention macedonia

My blog is a series of journal entries, image illustrations and photographs from my experience in the Peace Corps in Macedonia and BEYOND.   The contents of this page, and all links appearing on this page, do not represent the positions, views or intents of the U.S. Government, or the United States Peace Corps. 

Mention Macedonia and I usually get a few puzzled faces or a "Now, where is Macedonia exactly?"  "North of Greece" was my first reply.  Now I add, " with  Bulgaria to the East and Albania to the west".  I am getting to know a bit more about where I will spend my next 27 months.    And a funny thing is happening.   I took photos of my summer hide out.... the forest of the high sierras near  Lake Tahoe...  looks like I was in Macedonia!  take a look.

hover over the pic and see which one..

      

     

Creative Project Management : course at California College of theArts

Professor Peter Anderson's 3.0 prototype for a school classroom in Guinea Bassau. They made it out of cardboard, 1/3rd scale and now a full prototype in the 2013 fall course, Creative Project Management.  Next up for 2014 is the skin.   Funding strategizing to bring the dome to the western islands of Guinea Bassau, Africa, is forming.  This is a project for a quick, climate sensitive classroom for children. 

For me, the exhibit got me excited as I put together the pitch deck for ipad of source Q, a raw material rural shed.   My dream is to bring workshops and a wildly figured out supply chain to a displaced community of master artisans. 

 

Design Mind- The Rise of the DEO

"Putting a traditional CEO at the front of the modern workforce is anachronistic!"  

This past Friday night, I attended Maria Giudice's and Christopper Ireland's book signing at the California College of the Arts.  Their book?  Rise of the DEO, Leadership by Design.  You ask, what is a DEO... Let me tell you. . . Six  defining characteristic of a DEO as listed in the book will give you a hint  to what is required to empower, engage and get to execution with a co creative team.  

1. DEOs are Change Agents.  The promote, encourage and champion change.  They are at ease  with positive deviation and disruption.  And know it sets them apart.

2. DEOs are Risk Takers.  Ireland and Giudice both early DEOs know that risk is a key ingredient of creativity and an everyday activity.  I love they that write, "they recast (risk) as experimentation" 

3. DEOs are Systems Thinkers.  They are all about understanding the interconnectedness in the world and their organizations.  They are naturals at seeing the patterns, links, influences and overlaps in chaotic environments.  This has them power up their risk taking and disruptions with consciousness.

4. DEOs are Intuitive.  They use intutitive and rational logic  for analysis and observation for valid and powerful insights. 

5. DEOs are Socially Intelligent.  Instinctively connect with others and "prefer to spend time with customers, employees and strangers than equipment , plants and spreadsheets".  They have well defined networks. 

6. DEOs  GSD.  They are executors making things happen. 

Giudice and Ireland interviewed DEOs to show by example, from Autodesk to TED to Project H and Richshaw Bagworks.  I am reading Rise now... will get back to you with my take.  

 

Cockpit Arts - A Model for Creative Business Support

 

Cockpit Arts has done it again with their new webpage Making IT  - a page with sample toolkit worksheets and a shopping cart to buy the complete toolkit.   This Toolkit covers four key areas – Values, Vision and Goals; Management and Operations; Sales and Marketing, and Finances in the form of interactive worksheets. Once completed, these worksheets form the basis of a business plan that you can use to help keep your creative business on track.  And if your really want to rev up your engine remember, the Business Model Generator app is a great way to  a living breathing agile modeling tool.  

wattle making and cycling, a happy pair

Madelyn trimming sticks, TAS mania for goAWAYgear

This really is not a post about wattle making.  It is a post on creating and making from scratch. Taking what is in my environment and testing out my skills for  function and form, adaption, composition, collaboration and iteration.   Isolating a skill and elevating it with good design and some great market linkages can make for a some girl economic empowerment as well. aka getting busy and making small batches of things that customers value and  pay for, then when all is done there is money banked. 

In iniating anything in micro business start up,   there seems to be 3 steps that must be cycled:

U.S. Peace Corps RPCV

20 men makers - brother vellies

From the Brothers Vellies website:  Velskoen, pronounced "fell-skoon" and known colloquially as "vellies," are the ancestor of the modern-day desert boot. Vellies were first made in the 1600s, inspired by the footwear of the Khoikhoi tribe and crafted using raw materials. Later, our vellies were adapted by British travellers, packaged and renamed to be what we now know as desert boots.

Velskoen are made in the coastal town of Swakopmund, Namibia. There, a small group of eight Damara gentlemen assemble every shoe by hand, turning out just 20 pairs an afternoon.

Vellies are made of vegetable-dyed Kudu leather. The Namibian government mandates the culling of these large native antelope to control their population. Kudu skin yields amazingly durable leather and suede that ages exceptionally well. Because these hides are taken from wild animals they often show scars or other "imperfections" that domesticated hides do not.

What Vellies have?  A brand:  steeped in local tradition with a global expressionist style, small batch and custom handmade,  local paired with a global, custom design and distribution through likeminded OPENING CEREMONY and  most recently the company went through a name change that raises the MAKERS to the top!  (formerly known as the founder's last name, Schier Shoes) 

Want to see more?  visit  trendland for photographs by Jason Eric Hardwick Want to know more about branding your creative products or services in a socially responsible way?  Here is a link to CCAs (California College of the Arts dMBA open cirricula)  Sustainable Studio and Market  Insight Studio

Me and some local himba in Kunene region of Namibia. 

in the mail

       

One year later, I received a phone call to verify my mailing address. That's one year after my close of service in the U.S. Peace Corps.  To commemorate, I went through my project notes, grant applications, photos, drawings and numbered them up under the heading "My Macedonia Timeline" over at the top left column. 

While I served, I piled up quite a bit of images.  Photos, drawings and AI files and put my personal blogs on hold per the Peace Corp rules.  goAWAYgear and Travel Happy are up and running now and tablesetGO is in alpha 1 and forming.  My portfolio is made up of  direct draw and drawing until a composition appears images.  The theme that most shines through?  detours and the emotional cuts it takes to  travel and create new connections.  

Christmas, made in the U.S.A.

copyright TAS mania,  goAWAYgear LLC, 2012

Hello from the U.S.A.,  I crossed  the pond after two years to get reacquainted with what matters in the U.S.A.   And guess what?  -Now I can say my products are "Made in the U.S.A" which  is all the rage and first started as a push to bring back jobs to the U.S. of A.   Now it is a full on media and marketing campaign to attract customers.

 Having a tag like this whether it is "home grown"  "handmade"  "locally sourced"  " insert your name . . . own creations"   "upcycled"  "recycled" "repurposed" "sustainably green"  "artisanal" "small batch"  " from scratch"  "fair trade"  "clean, natural, green and fresh" , you get it,  - a tagline is a good start to positioning your products in the market. 

So add what's true, what matters  to you and what is timely.   You will find a niche that is attracted to your handmade  products. 

Find out what is in mine HERE

A is for artisan, artists and accounting!

                           

In my work with cooperatives and artisan entrepreneurs, if I mention the word accounting, their  attention wonders and eyes glaze over.  So how do I address the need for  a sound business model?  -for costing  concept and product development?   for costing sourcing?  costing supplies? costing market testing?   costing marketing and merchandising?  for pricing and  linking to the market?   Maybe a little piece of my CAKE, can do it!  -along with your ipad. 

The group at MYCAKE.ORG   concepted and brought to the web the answer.  My Cake is a financial toolkit that accounts for your actions as an artisan  and serves as a base of knowledge on how best to cost and price your creations.  It accounts for  money flows, both in and out of your business.  And we all know that a lack of cash flow can kill your business quickly, and poor profitability kills it slowly.  Take a look at their 10 reason why My cake cuz  MyCake has it all figured out!

The designer/makers over at Cockpit Arts,  UK's  only social enterprise creative incubator, uses my Cake... you should too.   They offer  2 month free trail on the website.  

Why ipad?   Because  the other thing that I notice is workshops full of produced products that were made in 2001. Front yards packed with carvings of stone and wood.  Cupboards full of dust covered boxes, containing handcrafts. Meaning?  Most of the items were produced, with no market in mind.  

Remember the "signature sheep" blog post?  A good business model with market tested prototypes is essential, before spending the time and money. So you ask... "what is a business model?  I have a plan. What is a model?" 

The Business Generator  has an ipad app that combines the speed of a "napkin sketch" with the smarts of a spreadsheet.  They say it enables you to map, build, test and iterate your business ideas fast.  And these days that is the name of the game.

 

Stay tuned, as I will give you some insight into the variables of a good business model in artisan speak! 

The power of togetherness - a women's workshop in Saudi Arabia

Aljawhara Alsanat introduced me to a family member's work by giving me this mug with illustrations inspired by traditional geometric embrodiery designs. 

 

Amnah Alireza link to shop

I turned the cup over to  see the "Monsoojat Foundation" and that began my search into the embroidery designs of Saudi Arabia. . . and I erased my thought that the women only wore black.  

Mansoojat Foundation forged a relationship with the Women's Welfare Center in Jeddah. Securing space to set up a workshop to preserve traditional Saudi Arabian embroidery.