Chic and fair trade can walk hand in hand - let The Dharma Door show you how

petsova
Aug 7, 2020
3 min read

Updated: Apr 4, 2022

When I first started furnituring and decorating my home, I wanted that boho vibe that will make it full of life and touch upon different cultures across the globe and recently I landed on The Dharma Door page...

Founded: 2004

Destination: Australia/ Bangladesh

From storage baskets and wall hangings to beautiful totes, one of which I am waiting for on my doorstep in London, all carefully made by the hands of women living in the rural parts of Bangladesh the brand shines with its uniqueness.

How did it all start...

Shannon Sheedy, the founder and the designer behind the contemporary craftings of The Dharma Door, and her husband, Mick, who sits behind the operations and financial bits of the business, went travelling across India and Nepal.

The plight of the Tibetan Refugees in Nepal is what initially inspired Shannon to create the Dharma Door. A moment in history I was not aware of in great detail up until this point...

Team was later joined by Robert and Lise, who established the European branch of the brand and... Maya.

The Tibetan Refugees' Journey

Freedom of movement is considered as a basic human right, right? Well, not for Tibetans.

In the year of 1959, 80,000 Tibetans alongside Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet as a result of China's takeover of the country.

Up until the early 2000s, few thousand Tibetans fled out of Tibet every year.

In 2010 the numbers significantly dropped (leading to only 41 Tibetans in 2007) due to China's interference and pressure including the brutal killing of Kelsang Namtso, 27-years-old nun, who was shot dead by the Chinese Police on 30 September 2006...the killing took place just 20 minutes before she was due to cross the border.

Today, Tibetans continue to be the victim of continuous political pressure and restrictions by the Chinese government through issued official travel restrictions by China to tangled bureaucracy processes. How shocking is that freedom of movement is still a right that some ethnic groups lack enjoying.

I will put down links for more information about the fate of Tibetans at the end of the article.

Feeling a sense of purpose...

In an interview, Shannon shares that the outsourcing to female artisans in Bangladesh has been the best decision The Dharma Door team has ever made. The Australian company aims to empower the artisans behind the beautiful designs to use their skill set and find their way out of poverty through work while providing them with fair working conditions and fair trade practices.

The Dharma Door works closely with non-for-profit NGOs on the ground to ensure that full support is provided to the artisans. The team relies solely on strong business model and continuous sales than simply on a charity-like strategy.

The Dharma Door knows that the way out of poverty is providing an opportunity through work and business growth and fair practices, rather than simply throwing money at people.

By reading Shannon's interview with different sources it became clear to me that Shannon and her team have very close relationship with the artisans and I could feel that sense of community in the company.

They even have Maya, CFO ‘Chief Funster Officer’, a.k.a. Shannon and Mike's dog in the 'Our Team' section of the website.

One comment put a wide smile on my face when I was reading her interview for the Daily Imprint.

She said that customers often reach out to her to ask about the person who made the product they just ordered. I was just about to do the same!

I would love to find out more behind the stories of these inspiring women of Bangladesh who made the Jute Bag that I fell in love with.

This I call success. To make your customers wanting to know the real story behind the product they buy...every detail of it. This is the kind of customer behaviour needed to make an impact-focused business succeed.

If I could write about every single piece on the web about The Dharma Door, I would! But I will let you go ahead and check The Dharma Door's website to find out more about their inspiring journey and browse their beautiful products...

I am currently stuck on their 'Journal' section on their website, while waiting for the below tote beauty and falling asleep.... inspired more than ever.