Get ready for great-looking handbags backed by a worthy cause! BLISS – Business & Life Skills School – is a brand new social enterprise that focuses on education and skills training for adolescent girls in northern Pakistan. For girls who are driven by poverty to choose one of either work or school, it offers an innovative solution–the more you come to school, the more money you make!
Through a one-hour skills class that results in marketable products, BLISS offers girls a monthly stipend that enables them to attend school instead of working full-time. The condition is that they must also enroll in regular English, Urdu and Mathematics classes offered by the school. It’s a win-win situation–the girls learn a new skill, earn money and get education.
The icing on the cake is that BLISS does not rely on continued charity for its operations, but on an internal revenue model sustained by sale of its handbags. The handbags are a unique fusion of traditional and contemporary. They are produced at professional workshops in Lahore, using cotton or khaddar with hand-embroidery done by girls and set in 100 percent leather. The motifs on the bags are designed by artist Maryam Tahir Khan, a graduate of the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore.
She gets her inspiration from various parts of Pakistan, stringing together the diverse culture and landscapes of the country in the designs–the ceramic pottery of Multan, the age-old tradition of hand weaving carpets in Kashmir, the flora and fauna of the Swat valley. “I want bags to depict our rich traditions, while at the same time be trendy pieces that appeal to an urban audience.” says Maryam.
BLISS handbags are exhibiting for the very first time in Pakistan this summer. In Lahore, look for them at Maisonette Luxury Apartments, Gulberg III, on May 28 from 4 to 8pm. Profits from the sales will go to girls and their families, for whom the bags are enabling education. For more information on BLISS, go to their website www.bagsforbliss.org or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bagsforbliss.
BLISS handbags to spice up summer
