FROM ETHIOPIA WITH LOVE
We have started discovering the many facets and amazing culture of Ethiopia through personal projects and through our Ethiopian friends. Our vision was to build up a company which helps the craftsmen in Ethiopia by producing high quality modern textiles with traditional means.
In order to do that we have created and invested into two companies – Desta in Switzerland which is us, Marco and Theodora, and Maraki in Addis Ababa run entirely by Ethiopian managers who are also our friends Mekdi and Bisrat. Maraki is independent and produces textiles for wholesalers and brands in the global market. Being a small company, Maraki has the advantage of flexibility: it is able to produce custom-designed high quality scarves and towels in relatively small quantities, filling up an unexplored niche in the international market.
EMPOWERING ETHIOPIAN ARTISANS
Traditional textiles handwoven with Ethiopian cotton are slowly disappearing. Mechanized weaving is gaining ground responding to increasing demands from local and international markets to produce higher quantities of cheaper products. The use of local cotton is loosing in favor of more resistant threads and stronger colors such as the polyester and acrylic fibers imported mainly from China. Because of the thin threads breaking easily during the process, hand-weaving colored cotton is a difficult task and it requires a lot of skill and patience. The production takes time and it needs experienced artisans.
We bring our contribution to support this craftsmanship by empowering Ethiopian artisans to produce handwoven textiles with Ethiopian cotton for international clients.