Shop AsiaStore’s Summer Sale Event and Designer Sample Sale and save 20%-50% on select items including jewelry by Lotus Arts de Vivre, Kai Yin Lo, Grace Chan, Radhika Gupta, Zina Kao, Nina Ngyuen, Rosena Sammi, Mousumi Shaw, and Yoko Yano; scarves by Han Feng; silk blouses by Richard Tsao; quilted jackets by Rose Ajmera along with a fabulous selections of books, CDs and more! Hurry in for the best selection!!
Pakistan based Polly & Me follows social enterprise practices working with skilled craftsmen and artisans at the grassroots level introducing the handicraft and traditional embroidery skills of Chitrali women to the international market. Polly&Me produces apparel and accessories made by eight collectives with over 500 women working in community-based spaces- the female artisans drop in to work together, or take the cloth and thread home to sew. The project is dedicated to empowering the women of Chitral by giving each of them the opportunity to share their stories, dreams, and concerns with the world and in the process, gain a stronger voice through their writing and art. They then translate their drawings, collages, and photographs into tapestries, which are what make up the beautiful and whimsical handbags they sell. Shop Polly & Me at Asiastore http://store.asiastore.org/pollyandme-products.html
Designer Sonam Dubal's Autumn/ Winter 2011 line, ‘Hidden Voices, Ancient Sounds', takes inspiration from ancient scripts and disappearing musical instruments, specifically, old Central Asian instruments and Brahmi, Pali and Dravidian scripts. "The collection focuses on simultaneity of different cultures, seperate in their own worlds, yet juxtaposed. It is the story of ancient India with its multiplicity of languages, designs, textiles and people.'
"Embroidered jackets, coats and capes with ancient scripts like Pali and Dravidian surface in languages that have lost their voices. These have been reworked in primal geometrics on velvet bodies like asymmetrical capes, formal evening jackets and pants. Instruments that have lost their sound, have been conceptualised as decorative motifs in silk for kaftans, dresses and wraps. Mirrors have been worked on as a symbolic language of dots in circles, triangles and concentric circles. Mirrors and tattoos, central in the ‘Rabari’ tradition from Rajasthan, work as symbols that reflect back to us what we have lost. The multiplicity of our spiritual traditions can be seen in the flow of Dervish style coats and long cut-worked jackets.Velvet is the primary textile for the coming winter, in black and tonalities of gray and brown. Color in the collection is very controlled mainly coffee, charcoal, gray, bordeaux and tonalities of black, creating a magical winter."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ZzraBYqyw
Sonam presents his latest collection at AsiaStore November 2011
Produced in the remote northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear, Carol Cassidy’s Cambodia Collection accessories are expertly dyed, woven, and finished by hand, from 100% silk. Cambodia Collection scarves, shawls and sarongs offer traditionally inspired Cambodian patterns, with vibrant color palettes. The colors are striking, the texture subtle. The result: a superlative product, as unique and enduring as the artists themselves.
Though land-mine victims of Cambodia's decades-long civil war, the artisans of Preah Vihear are using their skills drawing upon a rich regional heritage of weaving. Started in 1998 with five women, the project today employs over 80 farmers, spinners, dyers, weavers and finishers. The project has a complete dye shop and modern section warping system with 38 looms. The Preah Vihear project contributes to sustainable income for the artisans. With the income from the project, the community has built homes with electricity, clean water, and put their children through school.
SHOP Carol's Silk Textiles at AsiaStore http://www.asiastore.org/carol-cassidy-products.html
"We were in the Hazara district taking videos of the 2 women's groups we currently work with: HAZARA PULKARI CENTER & AL FALAH FOUNDATION. We spent time with some amazing women, including Tasleem Bibi, Project Manager for AL-FALAH. We visited one of the nearby villages up on a mountain and we were invited to see work in process by one family run by a single widowed mother whose five daughters are all sewing and embroidering. They allowed us to photograph them which is highly unusual for this province.
Al-Falah Foundation was started by 5 women who saw the basic skills of the local Hazara women and wanted to help the
women with marketing their products to a wider domestic audience. They have been around for 12 years and are making significant changes in the quality of women's lives. They currently work with 1200 women in 27 villages. When we were filming at the center they were in the process of taking one of their embroiderers to see her lawyer as her husband was divorcing her and taking custody of all the children.
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If a woman is divorced or widowed she is unable to work outside the home, especially in remote area such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which is very conservative. It is estimated that 2-3 out of 100 women work outside the home. AL FALAH FOUNDATION initially acquired their location 
on Grand Trunk road in Haripur as it is a heavily travelled road for tourists heading north towards Abbotobad & Nathiagalli. They had hoped to have a boutique within their office complex and had made sgns and bought mannikins, but their signs were torn down and their windows painted over by men in the community not wanting such exposure for a woman's organization.
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They have asked us at PTOP, to help better their marketing and design skills to an international audience and to help provide consistent work for many of these families. "
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Poetic Threads of Pakistan will be bringing the artistry of Pakistan to AsiaStore this July...stay tuned for details!
"If every person inspires the person next to them to take action, things will change." Dalai Lama
AsiaStore is proud to feature individuals who are making a difference...socially conscious designers who are not only making beautiful products, but are also giving back....
Carol Cassidy- Laos and Cambodia ; Dita Ong-Philippines
Nina Ngyuen -Vietnam ; Pamela Hiran-Thailand
Poetic Threads of Pakistan; Polly & Me-Pakistan
more about these wonderful projects at: http://www.asiastore.org/socially-concious.html
Asia Society and Soigné Kothari, owner of the Madison Avenue boutique Soigne K—featuring ready to wear and accessories by rarely available Indian designers—hosted a special reception on Wednesday, June 8th to thank the committee, supporters, friends and honorees of Asia Society’s March 2011 Gala Celebration of Asia Week, a city-wide event celebrating Asian art 
and attracting a discerning international clientele.
