Sekar Kawung is a social enterprise that works closely with local artisans to create sustainable products for contemporary urban consumers using their deep cultural knowledge on how to use natural resources carefully. This way they can build their economic prosperity, and continue to keep their natural and cultural heritage alive. Our aim is to support and collaborate with indigenous communities to continue protecting the biodiversity in their land, while nurturing their cultures to thrive, through creative social economic development programs in their villages. Through provenance, we enable our end consumers to partake in nurturing their living cultures.
We support our consumers to buy products wisely, and participate in having a good impact for society and the environment by knowing how, where, who, and what kind of materials are used in our products.
Our fashion line, works to enable Indonesia’s creative ethnic handmade textile artisans to deliver their crafts to the world as an answer to the current fashion industry which is the second most polluting industry after oil and gas. The textile artisans we work with handmake every piece of textile using natural dyes and natural fibers. We work with communities to restore ladnscapes by ensuring to plant and harvest carefully, and when materials such as yarn need to be purchased from elswhere, we ensure they can access yarn that is produced responsibly.
Beyond fashion, we work with communities to develop various rainforest based foods and beverages to deliver to consumers. Helping them to keep their thriving diverse agro-forest systems, and the biodiversity held within these forests alive and growing. Many of these indigenous agro-forest systems play a very important role in protecting the remaining rainforests Kalimantan, Sumatra and other important ecosystems in Indonesia.
Until 2019, Sekar Kawung has coached and collaborated with several regions in Indonesia (Sungai Utik-Kalimantan, East Sumba, Dukuh-Bali) to be able to bridge traditional artisans with buyers and facilitate them with additional skills such as hospitality and mastery of other soft skills. With the coaching from Sekar Kawung, these communities become more effective in improving their economy in a way that continues to maintain their culture, customs, and the ecosystems they live in.
Our hope is that Sekar Kawung can become a broader bridge for traditional artisans and communities with markets. This way we can help to keep biodiversity and local cultures alive and thriving, as local economies grow within the communities that we work with.
