Tikau. Photo Kaarle Hurtig.
Tikau’s products may appear in interior design magazines, but the company’s mission is to employ people in India.
TAINA SNELLMAN, the founder of interior decoration company Tikau, has just returned from India. Over there she visited familiar villages and discussed new Tikau product ideas with local craftsmen. Thanks to the trip, Tikau’s catalog will expand to include rugs and baskets woven from hay as well as hand-printed organic cotton products made in the local villagers’ homes. Tikau’s products are manufactured by people who possess age-old knowledge of handicrafts, or who need the work the most.
Tikau. Photo Kaarle Hurtig.
Already in her MBA degree, 30-year old Snellman specialized in design and fashion as well as environmental management. She was also intrigued by third world research. Snellman worked in the fashion industry and traveled to India for the first time seven years ago to chart the well-being of the clothing industry’s factory workers. On the same trip she came up with the idea for Tikau, which launched in 2008.
“I wanted to combine the Scandinavian look and aesthetics with a beautiful way of production – why not bring work into villages and people’s homes instead of forcing people to move into urban ghettos for work? At the same time we can cherish the regional heritage of handicrafts and traditions,” Snellman says.
“Everything we do must start off with how we can make the product as sustainable as possible: socially, ethically, environmentally and even quality-wise. I have no need to produce goods for the sake of products. We’re producing them for people, because people and families need work,” she continues. “Products also come to life because of the workers knowledge and skills, instead of coming up with a product and finding a factory for it.”
Allow for weddings and catastrophies
Most of Tikau’s products, such as rugs, blankets, baskets and pillows, stay in the catalogue year in, year out. Part of the products are designed by Snellman herself, part are designed by graphic designers like KLAUS HAAPANIEMI, who has designed products for Marimekko, Iittala, Diesel and Dolce&Gabbana. Some of the products are original designs by Indian craftsmen or traditional shapes and patterns.
Tikau. Photo Kaarle Hurtig.
Tikau works directly with families or alternatively local organizations. Local help may be important while starting production, because communication and transferring money doesn’t always go smoothly when done directly with locals.
All in all, Tikau employes 40 to 50 full-time workers and 150 to 200 seasonal workers in India. With the pay Tikau gives them for their work, employees can get shelter, a cow or two, enough food to feed their family – and maybe even a motorcycle. Tikau also pays for their employees’ health care and grants non-interest loans when needed.
“We also take into account the local culture of our workers. We try to plan our orders based on what we can produce. We try to schedule the work of our manufacturers in a way that allows for large wedding celebrations and other such events.”
“Often production may also slow down or be stopped by things that we couldn’t account for to begin with. Every now and then there are floods that prevent communication with the villages. In Kashmir large riots may prevent people from leaving their homes. Not all such events make the Finnish news,” Snellman clarifies.
Tikau sticks to fair trade principles in its business. “Starting up a company like this is of course challenging, because the product development phase is long. I believe that third world aid is at its best when it’s based on healthy business as opposed to non-profit work. This is a modern way to support developing countries.” †
Tikau, Vuorimiehenkatu 10, 00140 Helsinki
Text Heini Lehtinen Photos Kaarle Hurtig
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