Fair young designers in Austria
Taking a close look – this helps in school as well as in fair trade.
Students from Wiener Neustadt got a taste for the carpet world as guests at the Austrian furniture store Leiner, got to know approaches of fair trade and have created their own carpet designs. The initiative is part of a project through which Leiner and Label STEP want to give an understanding of the issues of fair trade and the many facets of handwoven carpets to school classes in entire Austria until May.
With the visit by students from Wiener Neustadt in the orient department of the local branch a project run by the furniture store Leiner supported by label STEP together with schools in entire Austria has started: Since mid-January each of the 17 Leiner branches invites a school class from the closer surroundings to a carpet excursion with workshop. The students familiarize themselves with the materials and motives of the carpets, get to know the aims and effects of fair trade, and, finally, the young people can participate actively in the making process of a handmade carpet within the scope of a design competition for young designers.
„Young people were really carried away“
For this the 25 students, who visited the orient department of Leiner Wiener Neustadt on Friday, 21 January, really got in touch with the oriental carpets: they touched wool and silk piles, felt coconut fibers and compared patterns. Beforehand, they already got to know the differences between their own everyday life and that of the weavers through a descriptive presentation. Thereby, fair trade of carpets took shape for them in two respects. „The young people were really carried away“, says Gudrun Nemec who accompanied the event on behalf of the Wiener Neustadt branch. Finally, the students put down their own ideas of the ideal carpet.
The winner's design goes to production
After the workshops, visitors of Leiner can vote for the best design. The designs with the most votes go to production: The young designers get their carpet as a unique piece made in India – by guidelines of fair trade, of course.
