We have a new partner! You can now find our scarves at TananaSilk.com.
We have a new partner! You can now find our scarves at TananaSilk.com.
Hello, and thanks for visiting! My name is Kyley Schmidt, I’m a textile designer + social entrepreneur living in North Carolina. I founded a women’s silk weaving cooperative in the central highlands of Madagascar while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. Fifteen years later, our work is still going strong thanks to people like you! All the silk scarves and shawls you see on this site are designed by me in N.C. and are hand-crafted by the Lovasoa Cooperative weavers in the Central Highlands of Madagascar. There are currently about 100 weavers in the cooperative.
The weavers do everything by hand- from spinning the wild silk yarn on a drop spindle, to dyeing the yarn with mostly natural dyes (made from leaves, bark, and clay), and hand-weaving on simple floor looms. These techniques are centuries old and have been passed down from mother to daughter for generations.
We hope you enjoy learning about this unique cultural art form. We also hope you can get involved with our work more personally- either through purchasing a textile, sharing this with a friend, or just having a moment to reflect on different ways of life, how textiles are traditionally made, and the many layers of fulfillment when crafting something with one's hands.
