We are a nation that is not bound by geography, language or culture. We are unified by passion, creativity and talent.
The Artisan Nation is for-profit rather than a charity. This is so we can enable our members to be profitable themselves.
Click here for some frequently asked questions, or here to get in touch.

Growing Stronger

There has never been a more challenging time in the world to survive than now. Ensuring nutrition and health at the grassroots level is essential. Life is more than just survival. We need to do everything we can to ensure the artisans and their families have work, so they can feed their families and support their education.

Because of the Covid pandemic and frequent, sustained lockdowns, travel is often prevented between villages.  This means that there is no one to travel from village to village checking the quality of the work of our ladies.  Smartphones can now enable these women to have their quality control checked and work orders managed.  This ensures the ability to restore a regular income.

We focus on strategies that enable women to take control of their futures.

Click here for more detail on how we do this, and why it matters.

Unleashing Potential

By giving our artisans access to services to develop their skills and grow self-awareness they are empowered to make their own decisions and gain independence. This challenges culturally-entrenched ways of behaving and thinking.

When improvement in physical conditions is accompanied by longer-term investment in mental health and wellbeing, we know that aspirations are enhanced and dreams become reality. We provide services and medical resources to our artisans to sustain their ongoing personal development. This enables them to take charge of their own life and contributes to them unleashing their potential. Our priorities are to ensure all women in this Covid world can access work.  Smartphones enable this to occur.

Click here for more detail on how we do this, and why it matters.

Attaining Work

We nurture a critical mass of talented, dedicated women (most of who have only had 1 or 2 years of formal education) and ensure they all have regular, reliable work and income. The physical and psychological security this gives is unmeasurable.  Because of Covid, the only way that this can be done is through the use of smartphones.

Through the use of smartphones, women come to work in their own village and feel proud to be part of such a strong sisterhood. As their self-confidence grows, they learn to have a voice (in many aspects of their lives) and negotiate both within their own personal lives as well as at work.

Our emphasis is on building independence and creating certainty for the artisans themselves, their children, and their families. Our workplaces focus on strong peer support networks to ensure independent thinking and confidence. We empower women to make their own decisions and to be in charge of their lives. Smartphones are a foundation to enable this to occur.

Click here for more detail on how we do this, and why it matters.

Get Involved

Vijayshanti, Uma and Anandhi share their appreciation

We hope you can support the empowerment of female creators from developing nations. With the current pandemic, our focus is to support women to return to work by enabling their communications and village to village supervision of artisan projects.

Our initial goal is to buy 50 smartphones ($11,500) to directly benefit over 100 lives. Your contribution will make a huge difference. Every smartphone you donate or support will be directly helping female creators in developing nations.

The more you can help, the more lives will be empowered.

The Artisan Nation expresses gratitude to Bernadette Janson of The School of Renovating for sharing and supporting the vision for the smartphone project to empower women through this social enterprise.

Hear Our Story

The Artisan Nation was born from a realisation that women in rural villages in India (who have had little or no formal education), are just as smart as you and I, and because they don’t have an opportunity at their front door, are stuck in a subservient, malnourished, non-educated cycle. Using both their hands and their minds, combined with the support of The Artisan Nation, these ladies have a wonderful opportunity in front of them which entails breaking all of the above cycles through secure, regular work.

We also realise that fashion supply chains are changing. More and more consumers around the world want to know how the products they are purchasing impact the people who made them. They care about how they spend their money. The Artisan Nation ensures all these women and their families are well fed, well paid and, just as importantly, no longer remain anonymous. They will have a voice, for themselves, for their families, and for the world.

Nearly all of the households that the artisans come from either has no internet or no smartphones, making it almost impossible for these ladies to access work. This is where The Artisan steps in. Our on-the-ground, hands-on approach builds the bridge between the consumer and the maker.

A local Indian paper wrote, “since Covid arrived…it is a barren hellscape for artisans and they are left with a bleak future…We cannot generate business for craftspeople and the industry will need to depend on government policies.” The Artisan will not be waiting for government support to reset the compass for the lives of these ladies. We are here. Now.

We will be the largest, strongest community of women in the world. We comprise of makers, supporters and wearers. Please move into our new nation. We warmly welcome you.

Member Organisations

The following organisations are members of The Artisan Nation, providing their beautiful creativity that is enabled by your support.
All units’ produce is meticulously custom-made. There is no machinery used by artisans in any village.

KOCO Handkits

Specialises in: Handknitting

Engages women from villages in: Southern India

Best used for: Sweaters – although the Koco artisans are handknitting experts and can handknit anything. Koco will help source the yarn.

Number of villages operating in: 5

Origins: Started because of the need to produce handknitted garments to a high, consistent standard. Quickly pivoted to empowering women to speak up and to find their voice

Website: https://koco.global/

The Cluny Sisters

Specialises in: Satin Stitch embroidery

Engages women from villages in: Southern India

Best used for: Table cloths, napkins, placemats and embroidery motifs required for cotton or linen clothing. These ladies do meticulous satin stitch motifs on any cotton or linen surface.

Number of villages operating in: 1

Origins: Started because the Cluny nuns from France wanted to occupy orphaned or girls with disadvantaged backgrounds, during the day. They sold the products they made to pay them and turned it into a business.

Wikipedia page

Karma Kutir

Specialises in: Kantha Embroidery

Engages women from villages in: Northern India

Best used for: Kantha embroidery is essentially running stitch. Running stitch can be expressed by repeated patterns, tell a story, outline or fill in any pictures or logos.

Number of villages operating in: 5

Origins: Started by a woman who was the president of the Indian Council for Child Welfare and the Minster of State for Social Welfare. She wanted to give more opportunities to women.

Website: http://www.karmakutir.in/

We are also honoured to include our latest member: Mother Crafts

Mother Crafts specialise in crocheting and engaging women from 5 villages in Southern India. The creations are primarily resort wear or for open work. The process used is faster than handknitting and uses lots of yarn. Thin cotton is great for resort wear, thick yarn is best for bags. This unit does not stock yarn. They can follow patterns and will make any requested item. The founder’s mother started working in Auroville at the age of 12 and was taught how to crochet. The money from this was used to raise the children. In 1990, the founder started her own crochet company so that she could support her own family.

A Final Word

Hi, I’m Danielle,

I care deeply about the empowerment of women, especially in developing nations. From my travels across the world and working alongside some of the most beautiful, smart and talented women, I feel extremely passionate about enabling them to have a voice.

I created The Artisan Nation after first setting up KOCO which operates as a hand-knitting production business that produces garments for the top brands in the world as well as smaller boutique brands.

KOCO is naturally a member of The Artisan Nation and I’m constantly on the lookout for new member projects and organisations to enable more women to be empowered in developing nations.

I’d love to discuss this more with you. Drop me a line by clicking here!