What do efficiency, horses and learning have in common? As you might know, we believe in simplicity - and this starts right at the origins. Supply chains often sound complex and products become hard to trace and their journey is lost on the road. We think that the supply chain is like the character of a product, it shapes its state in many ways. Some of you might wonder about how at we are KAL the story of our products is told. Others of you have already heard stories of our venturesome treks through the Himalayas, the origin of our supply chain. Either way, I would like to tell you the story of how we are sourcing our wool from...
The Art of Handspinning “Everyday I'm up here, taking our animals to grass. Walking and spinning feels like a meditation, being surrounded by the animals who give us the wool. It's like a perfect cycle. ” –Dikir Dolma, July 2016 Already 20 000 years back people have been handspinning to create ropes, clothing and accessories. The style of handspinning and the yarn varies from the raw material used and it can be spun in many ways, the only tool necessary is a spindle. For the traditional spinning techniques the spindle that is used can be as simple as a single pointed piece of wood which is twisted in a bowl while the spinner is seated. Another type...
Now that our stay in Assam has ended and we have access to a great Internet connection we would like to share the recipes for the dyes we have made in Assam. We used locally available plants which could be collected from the village itself. The shades we have gotten will vary with the season, the soil, the amount used, the water and the mordant, so you might get different results as we do. TEAKTectona grandis The teak tree will be well known to most of you for its brown-redish wood. However, its leaves have great properties and uses as well. In some villages, they are still used as plates during big functions which is great as it avoids plastic for...
“You have to try the impossible to achieve the possible” Hermann Hesse This quote very much epitomizes the beginnings of we are KAL 2,5 years ago. Starting as a research project out of interest and curiosity, we are KAL is now a social enterprise slowly growing, working in three different parts of India as well as in Leipzig, Germany as a home base.I am currently in India working with our teams in Ladakh, Assam and Himachal Pradesh. A week ago I reached Assam and spent the past weekend in Assam's neighboring state Meghalaya, where the journey of we are KAL began. The preparationsKAL might have not started in the most conventional way... When looking back, the bitter and mesmerizing moments of...
Two weeks have gone by since we returned to Ladakh and our team here in Kharnakling. Tomorrow we will leave for our first trip to the nomads in Kharnak, a small nomadic community from the Changthang Plateau, to start selecting wool for this winter. Kharnakling is a small village which was founded more than twenty years ago. It consisted of a few small houses of nomads from Kharnak, who decided to settle down and leave the nomadic life. The difficulties they have faced such as cold winters, lack of medical facilities and education were too much to live with. Settled nomad Jigmet in front of his house during construction. Shepherd Tenzin in front of his flock of sheep in the...
