The Light emitted by Urban Medley

 We are all searching for a better future for our planet and we know it is in our hands. There are activists chopping at the chair legs of big corporations. There are idealists striking out on their own. There are inventors trying out new ideas. They include logistical experts, scientists, school teachers, even some politicians. There are many of dots of light in the universe and I believe that when they finally coalesce a flood of light will shine onto a better path. 

One brave innovator is Shayonti Chatterji. She is making her contribution through her business acumen. She reached out to me because she thought there was synchronicity in our respective visions with respect to fashion and indigenous peoples. I have looked up her advertising on LinkedIn and her heartfelt messages promoting Urban Medley, “a curated platform for sustainable fashion”, which she initiated and founded. 

 

Urban Medley creates products specially for you, so that you can make sustainable fashion a part of your urban life. You stand out and give back. 
It is about sharing a style statement which proudly reflects tradition intercepted with modernity. It’s colorful, boundless, energetic and involves a lot of experimentation. Not bound by age, gender, race, colour and not even size, we choose accessories as our main focus point. We give you the opportunity to create your own style.

 

This is the face she shows to her consumers on her selling platform. Behind the storefront is her interface with the makers of her beautiful scarves and wraps back home in India. Her path is not an easy one to create or walk. She has a foot in two worlds and she is straddling the great divide as fairly as she can, using her entrepreneurship and her personal experience of both worlds. She has placed her limited resources in service of her ideals, so deep is her commitment. She is doing it for the makers, for the planet and for the future. And it will succeed if buyers are thoughtful, committed and enchanted – so she is educating them, too.

 

I’m feeling a bit emotional from the sincerity and integrity shown by Shayonti Chatterji; it is rather moving. It is so easy to become jaded when you hear someone on the TV express a desire for government not to become sidetracked by ‘green measures’ and you know what a hard, steep climb we have ahead of us before we achieve a regenerative economy. While writing this blog I have decided to purchase some gifts from Urban Medley’s on-line shop for friends and family. There is no better way to support my own ideals. Her initiative represents an important step on the path to achieving a world that sustains cultural and biological diversity.

 

Nevertheless, even Shayonti Chatterji’s best practices* cannot (yet) be sustainable to the extent of being regenerative. They constitute a buffer against the erosive power of big capital and big business in indigenous communities. They do keep artisans in their villages instead of being forced to throw their fate into the melee of big cities. They do foster pride and health. They do ensure that indigenous technical prowess, language, culture, heritage and connection with the land will continue. And where her best practices still can’t mitigate all the harm built into doing business (e.g. Chatterji has no recourse but to use current available modes of transport to get the products to the external market) she compensates for CO2 emissions by contributing to the development of an Indian forest. 

 

One day we will go knocking at her door to learn about her best practices: what worked and what did not? What is the next step? That proverbial path can only be made by walking on it, and few are brave enough to take that first step. Shayonti Chatterji is courageous and sincere. I wish her and Urban Medley every success. When those brave lights in the universe coalesce, hers will be among them and we will be grateful because they show us the way.

 Postscript 10 April

I have just received my order in the mail and I am blown away by the high quality of these gorgeous items. They are 'keepers for a lifetime'. Highly recommended. Exquisite to own and to give as gifts. 

* Shayonti Chatterji’s strategies:

1.     Work with designers who work with artisans so that they can obtain the income needed to have healthy families and live in dignity.

2.     Work with organic materials, including silk and cotton, using minimum water and no pesticides.

3.     Work ethically: fair pay, decent working conditions, support for artisans

4.     Remember that packaging also has to be earth friendly

5.     Offset CO2 emissions from transportation by contributing to Tree Nation.