Founder Series: Q&A with Tim Straight of HDIF Armenia

Tell us a little bit about your social enterprise – where are you based and what products are you making?

Homeland Development Initiative Foundation (HDIF) was established in 2013 in Armenia, in order to create jobs under Fair Trade principles.

I have been involved in the Fair Trade movement since the early 1980’s when I lived in Norway and was working in Alternative Handel, the only Fair Trade organization in the country. Always wanting to set positive precedents, when I founded HDIF in Armenia, it was the very first fully guaranteed organization in a former Soviet Union country. Now, we are one of only two, the other being in neighbouring Georgia.

Today HDIF works with 235 artisans. Very early on we decided to engage with the Syrian Armenian population in the country. Today they make up about 30% of our total of artisans. So it was only natural that we joined MADE51 three years back. MADE51 has been instrumental in bringing fresh product ideas to the hand felted technique that the Syrian Armenian refugees are now producing. They have churned out thousands of hand felted Christmas ornaments with a traditional Marash embroidery technique as an embellishment. More recently, we have invested heavily in new product development, branching out into hand felted computer sleeves, spectacle cases, potholders and oven gloves for the kitchen, and bowls and coasters for the home. These designs are a significant step up and forward, and we look forward to bringing these to market.

HDIF has several different customer sales channels. One of course is MADE51 itself through the online shop and promotion to retailers. Secondly, the Armenian diaspora are a significant purchaser of HDIF products, and then of course the Fair Trade market. We look forward to further developing all of these as we expand our collection of refugee made products. 

What Inspired you to start this business? 

With a decade of Fair Trade experience in Norway, moving from volunteer up to financial manager in Alternative Handel, it was only natural that I would start such a Fair Trade organization in Armenia, where I am stationed as both Finland and Norway’s honorary consul. Fair Trade is in my blood, and has been for the past 40 years. The Fair Trade community is my family.

How many artisans do you work with and where are they from? For the refugee artisans, what are their lives like outside of work? What kind of work opportunities do their family members and spouses have?

In total we have 235 artisans that we work with. Of these, about 65 or so have a refugee background. These are all from Syria. Armenia has recently seen several rounds of renewed conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan, and this has resulted in a new wave of displaced persons. We are monitoring whether we can go forward engaging with them.

The Syrian Armenians are a resilient group, having been engaged in business in Syria. The women, however, used their traditional embroidery skills only for making things for themselves or as gifts. Thus, HDIF has worked for years to encourage them to make products for market, professionalizing the production, price calculation, etc.

It is estimated by the World Bank that Armenia has up to 40% of the population under the poverty level. All efforts are being made by the World Bank, and by HDIF, to keep the Syrian Armenians as fully employed as possible. Outside of work, they are active in Syrian-Armenian cultural organizations that have been established in Armenia. Integration is taking place, with Syrian Armenians being sought out by the local population in the hospitality and car repair spheres, among others. 

Quiet Mouse and Dreaming Sheep Ornaments in the Holiday Collection made by by Syrian Artisans working with HDIF in Armenia. © UNHCR/ I Mkhitaryan

What inspired you to start working with refugees?

It was a totally natural decision on my part, as I have worked with both Norwegian People’s Aid in Bosnia during the war there and with the Norwegian Refugee Council here in Armenia. Much of my professional work experience has been with refugees. This is not driven by so much sympathy for them (which I have a lot of), but by the knowledge of what a resource they are for their host country. Our work with refugees started in 2015 or so, before our involvement with MADE51.

What craft techniques do the refugee artisans you work with specialize, in and where did they learn these skills? 

The items the refugees produce are two distinct hand made techniques - hand felting of local sheep wool, and traditional Marash embroidery that is widely practiced among Syrian Armenian women. The felting technique has been learned after their arrival in Armenia, but the Marash embroidery technique is hundreds of years old. Thus, our products are a combination of the old and the new, beautifully combining handmade techniques into modern, market-oriented products.

HDIF artisan working on the dreaming sheep ornament that is part of HDIF's MADE51 Holiday Collection. © UNHCR/ I Mkhitaryan

What have you learned about the cultural relevance or history of the crafts techniques?

There are several different embroidery techniques that are typical to the Syrian Armenian communities. These each have specific names, based on the regions of today’s Turkey that they originally came from before the Armenian Genocide in the early 1900’s. Marash, Ainteb, Ourfa, Svaz are among the names / places that they originate from. The use of these traditional embroidery techniques have always been the basis for our engagement with the Syrian Armenians - to tell their story. They are distinctly traditional Armenian patterns.

What have you learned about the refugee crisis from working with these artisans? 

I came to Armenia to work with refugees in 2000. With the Norwegian Refugee Council, we built some 1500 housing units from Armenians displaced by the war with Azerbaijan in the early 1990’s. The conflict is ongoing, and new displacements are occurring from the Nagorno Karabakh region. I have a strong refugee background that spans back to the Bosnian war. Most of my professional life has had a refugee engagement. Thus, it’s in my blood!

What has been the most challenging part about working with refugees, and what has been the most rewarding? 

The biggest problem is professionalizing a traditional skill that they have not made for the market. Educating them on price calculation, production planning, quality control and other supply chain issues is a never ending process. This combined with the question of how they view themselves - are they artisans or are they producers? It is critical that they see themselves as producer partners for HDIF. A self-view as artisan tends to make them suggest higher prices and be less willing to pull in and train more refugees.

The most rewarding side of our work of course is seeing the orders come in, and the refugees happy. We have one producer in particular that we have worked together with for years. I asked her where she is in five years, and her answer was ‘I will have a factory, and I will live in the floor above it’

That is a goal worth pursuing!

Syrian Symbols Trio- MADE51 Holiday Collection