South East Asian Treasures
Asian handmade jewelry collection
Ozonya is so excited to launch our first collection with fabrics from South East Asia! Let us introduce you to our Asian handmade jewelry collection.
But, what countries are part of South East Asia exactly?
South East Asia consists of 11 countries: Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
South East Asia has a very special place in our heart. The landscapes, the gastronomy, the music, the architecture, the fabrics… but above all, the people.
Through numerous trips and some time living there as well, we were absolutely captivated by this region of the world. The smiles on people’s faces and the feeling of being part of a community are always present. This is why we decided to launch our very first collection with fabrics from the region (probably not the last one as this region is very wide and diverse).
‘South East Asian Treasures’ contains patterns from 3 different countries in South East Asia: Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. With these Asian handmade jewelry collection we try to take you to the culture and traditions of these countries.
You can find the names of all the patterns here:
Click here to access the collection
You may wonder why we chose the name of the region ‘South East Asia’ for our Asian handmade jewelry collection and to englobe only three countries, while you may have heard other names to refer to this peninsula such as ‘Indochina’.
Well, it is true that in the past, the term Indochina was widely used mostly by the Western civilizations, as if the region could be described simply by intermingling Indian and Chinese influences. However, many people including us, don’t consider that you can call a region that is absolutely unique by a name that literally means 'mix of two other countries'. Therefore, the term Mainland South East Asia is the correct term to designate the region. For short, we chose the wider area 'South East Asia'.
Moreover, French Indochina which comprised the countries of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, was the term used during the colonization and occupation of this territories by France.
South East Asian women face numerous gender challenges in their daily lives. Some examples of these are: marital rape not being criminalized in some countries of the region, poor and dangerous work conditions specially in the garment sector, sex trafficking of women and children, unequal access to education… to name a few.
As for every country, we have partnered with an organization that strives for our values. In this case, we have partnered with Little Hearts Organisation, a non-profit NGO that works with abandoned children in Cambodia to give them a new start in life.
Avoiding that these kids end up in sex traffic hubs and without access to education are some of the reasons why we find that this organization strives for our values.
We were very lucky to spend a day in the orphanage and get to know all the kids and the founder. They guided us through the art gallery, the garden, the rooms… and explained us their every day life. It was very impressive to see how well the kids spoke great English!
We will explain more in detail what Little Hearts does in upcoming blogposts so stay tuned!
Until then, you can support their mission by purchasing a Not-for-profit postcard made by the kids of Little hearts. They are available by unit or by package of 10. And our Asian handmade jewelry collection is now available on our website, we hope you like it!