Felt balls for Nepal

Through my work for the Fair@Square festival fashion show I’ve met a lot of great people, one of whom is Stephanie Woollard. She has a fair trade business working with women in Nepal, which you can read more about here. An extremely inspirational young lady, I think you’ll agree.

Not long ago I went to visit Stephanie to see her products and she asked if I had any idea what to do with the felt balls that the ladies in Nepal make.





Yes, they look cute here, but not exactly something anyone over the age of five would want to have much to do with, I think you’ll agree. We wanted to turn them into something that could work for adults too, so I’ve had a go at making a few (crappy) prototypes which Steph will take back to show the women in a few days.









I sketched a few other ideas for jewellery and accessories and also made this necklace out of the felt flowers that are another product that the women make.





Let me stress that all of these are extremely badly executed and that they looked much better in my mind. For example, this little guy (who would be cute on a kid’s keyring or as a brooch) had limbs and a tail…

Anyway, hopefully my efforts will at least give the women some new ideas… (hmm, perhaps of what not to do??)