What is Harfi?
"Harfi" is Arabic for "Artisan".
At Harfi we work closely with talented artisans in developing countries to bring you a stunning range of ethically-sourced crafts from around the world. Each lovingly-made product showcases the creativity and skill of the person who made it. Our handmade crafts combine contemporary designs with traditional techniques that have often been used for hundreds of years.
Why Harfi?
Inspired by our travels and our encounters with traditional craftspeople around the world, we created Harfi because we believe talented artisans need a louder voice, and our homes will flourish through their savoir-faire. We wanted to unite the workings of talented artisans from across the globe into one place to help you design your perfect home.
Our lives are unique, our homes should be too. Every product we sell has a story behind it, and the mark of the Artisan who made it. We embrace the small quirks that come with handmade goods, appreciating these traits as signatures of the personalities that go into making them. In an age of mass commercialism, traditional crafts, indigenous methods for making, and individualism are being lost every day.
Why does Harfi choose to partner with artisan co-operatives?
There are two main reasons that Harfi chooses to partner with co-operatives. Firstly, by working directly with the makers themselves we have assurance of high quality as we can oversee the whole process from start to finish. We can handpick the materials, collaborate with them on the design process and know that each product has been lovingly handmade by a talented artisan, who more often than not has dedicated their entire life to their craft. Our Artisans have mastered their technique through years of practice to accomplish the high level of finesse and care that goes into each product we sell. Our products are inspired by different cultures around the world but are all based on skills passed through many generations. Secondly, as we are able to remove the costs of the middlemen we are able pay the workers a fair price for their time and expand the market for their product.
In what ways will Harfi benefit the artisan co-operatives?
Primarily through employment and security. We aim to empower our artisans to use their traditional skills and techniques to reach a broader market and create better lives for themselves and their communities. Co-operatives are at the mercy of demand which can often lead to unfairly cheap prices, a lack of security and even unemployment for the artisans in low periods. By placing large orders on a regular basis Harfi can offer the artisans consistent work and fair compensation so they are able to sustain a better standard of living. To put it into perspective, it can take an artisan two weeks to produce one litre of argan oil, many hours to produce just one
throw,
basket or
bag and over a month to produce just one
rug so small increases in demand can make a huge difference to their lives.
Chris and Sabrina
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