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We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and commitment and wish you a very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year! 

It’s nearing the end of the year already! We’re getting set for 2014 with copies of the Fair Trade Resource Network’s calendar. Back in July you helped vote a photo of our very own Kanchana into this fantastic international publication, and today we were proud to present her with her own copy. The calendars feature inspiring images from the fair trade movement around the world – check them out! http://store.fairtraderesourcenetwork.org/pro…/2014-calendar

Our current employee of the month will be a familiar face to Jacobs Well‘s supporters here: she’s in our display picture, she’s been making fantastic Christmas bunting, coordinating her outfits with clients’ orders, braiding hair and crashing her friends’ portraits on our recent photo day. But Manju is a lot more than a pretty face – she has done fantastic work recently while coping with ill health and looking after her mother from afar. Thank you Manjula for being such an important part of the team!

Limited edition pieces designed and made entirely by the talented team at Jacobs Well! Many thanks to our beautiful models for taking part in the fun photoshoot!

We wanted to capture our own limited edition Jacobs Well dresses, and we’re lucky enough to have both perfect weather and colleagues with very cute children!  We’ve had a lot of fun designing and creating our own line of dresses for young girls, which will be up for sale at several events in the UK over the next few months. Here’s a sneak peak of our neighbour modelling one for us!

There was no question over who we wanted to celebrate as employee of the month for October – Radha has been doing amazing work recently!

Joining the jacobs well team in 2001, Radha had completed the Oasis ‘Learning and Livelihoods’ vocational training programme and started at the unit as a trainee on the sewing machines.  She was stitching for many years until the abrupt departure of our cutting master in 2010 at which point Lydia trained Radha to take over his work.  The cutting table is now fully Radha’s domain and she excels at measuring and cutting fabric for the team to stitch, as well as designing and grading patterns.

Radha is very well respected in the unit and takes over many leadership roles if Lydia is away.  She also has a great deal of responsibility at home, looking after her elderly parents as well as the daughters of her brother and his wife who have both passed away.

With a keen eye for both designing and replicating products, Radha has recently been responsible for a collection of purses, wash bags and young girls’ dresses.  First working on the sample herself, and then taking charge of training the rest of the team in the right construction technique, several members of staff have commented on how well she conducts training and how much they enjoy learning from her.  Radha is extremely valuable to jacobs well and we’re looking forward to her developing even further in her role and her leadership abilities.

We’ve been overdue an updated team picture following some arrivals and departures over the last couple of months.  Last week, with plenty of warning given to allow for favourite clothes and hairstyles to be ready, photo day finally came to the unit here in Bangalore.

New trainees, established faces, girls taking on new roles, pillars of the establishment… we’ve got them all here and we’re so proud of what this team can achieve.  Without further ado, meet the talented ladies who make this business tick…

A special mention to Jayne, who is currently based in the UK but is a vital part of the team, and Ruth who is here in Bangalore but far happier to be behind the camera on this day.  We can only dream of having the entire team in one place for a photo in the future!

We are excited to have recently had two new sewing machines installed at the unit in Bangalore.  Funded by generous donations from Danetre and Daventry Rotary Clubs in the UK, these shiny new arrivals take our total number of sewing machines from seven to nine and will make a big difference to our production output potential.

Most importantly, the new machines mean we have been able to take on two more members of staff.  Nandini and Lalitha join the team as graduates of the Oasis ‘Learning and Livelihoods’ vocational training programme, and they will benefit directly from the new machines which are being used specifically for training purposes.

The unit is full and buzzing.  We look forward to sharing the progress made by our new starters, and the beautiful items sewn on the new machines!

September saw every member of the team raising their game with some complex new orders, and there were several strong contenders for the jacobs well employee of the month certificate.  But one girl stood out even above the rest, and we are really happy to celebrate Kanchana this month!

Kanchana joined us at the start of this year, having attended the Oasis ‘Learning and Livelihoods’ vocational training course and also having prior experience in the garment industry.  We can’t imagine the unit without her now!  She is patient, learns very quickly and is committed to her work, being determined to stay on at jacobs well in the future when she is married rather than staying at home.  Kanchana’s laugh is a regular soundtrack to our Bangalore days and her winning smile secured jacobs well a place in the Fair Trade Resource Network’s calendar for 2014 (available for purchase here!).

We are particularly proud of Kanchana this month for completing work on a really complicated order.  Sumitra, having taken over Ayub’s work in sampling and complex stitching, taught Kanchana the necessary skills to create a garment from a tricky fabric with a lot of very specific tailoring.  This was the first time that Kanchana had worked on such an order, and she and Sumitra completed the stitching to an excellent level between the two of them.  It’s fantastic to see Kanchana learning and continually increasing her skills and experience – we’re lucky to have her and very excited to see her progress as a valuable part of the jacobs well team.

Congratulations Kanchana!

We were recently fortunate enough to receive donations towards purchasing a small digital camera for the jacobs well unit in Bangalore.  Hooray! There are many reasons why we’re excited to have this tool for the whole team to use.

jacobs well is not just a standard production unit.  As a fair trade company we place a lot of importance on being open and accountable to those who support us and do business with us, and the value of visual storytelling can’t be underestimated as a part of that.  We want to tell stories about the issues we strive to combat and raise awareness of, stories about our work, stories illustrating how jacobs well and the fair trade way of business can make a difference.  Images can transcend language barriers and convey messages and situations that people might not otherwise be able to imagine.

Storytelling is important but it is also crucial to us that what we share is done with respect and authenticity.  By having a camera for team use in the unit, the jacobs well staff themselves will be able to decide what they want to share about their work and lives, and how they want to do so.  It is their business, and with their own camera they can be in charge of what gets documented!

We also don’t believe in offering dead-end jobs.  No sir!  We strive to create an environment of continual learning and skill progression, with respect to both career opportunities and personal life skills.  Is taking a photo merely about clicking a button on a camera?  That’s not what we think!  In addition to learning basic photographic skills, the training accompanying the new camera will be an exercise in critical thinking and communication.  Subjects such as what stories we want to share, what language we use and the different audiences we want to connect with will empower team members with transferable skills that they can build on for future roles both within jacobs well and outside.

So, you can see that there is a real need for this camera with respect to sharing what we stand for, playing our part in raising the profile of the fair trade movement, and providing our talented staff with further opportunities to grow.  But we also want to have some fun!  It will give us another way to flex our creative muscles, and with so much artistic talent in the team it is very likely someone might have a real passion for photography that we can encourage!

Many thanks to our kind supporters for enabling us to purchase this camera.  Stay tuned here on the blog and on the jacobs well Facebook page to see the latest shots from the unit!

Last week we had a farewell party at the unit for our fantastic tailor Ayub, who is leaving jacobs well to pursue a new opportunity in the Gulf.

Originally recommended by a client, Ayub has been with us since 2010 and will be greatly missed.  Often the lone male in a workplace full of chattering women, his calm and quiet manner and respectful attitude made him a perfect team member.  Ayub worked primarily on producing sample items and tackling the most complicated stitching work; he has also been a patient teacher for all the girls, particularly Sumitra who is now confident enough to take over much of his work to an excellent standard.

Thank you, Ayub, for all your hard work – we wish you all the best for the future.  There will always be a job for you at jacobs well if you decide to come back to India!