About me

I started this website in July 2008, because i had been offered a job in Pakistan. I wanted to let everyone I loved back home see what I am up to, I’m not the best person at keeping in touch and I hate repeating myself. I never seem to tell the same story twice, forgetting or omitting certain things each time I re-tell it. However I do love to write letters and take pictures and after a bit of discussion this seemed like the perfect solution. So here I am.

I recently graduated with a BA in fashion, specialising in menswear, specifically tailoring. This interest has taken me all over the UK and America, but I need a change for a bit to see if I can find what it is that i really love doing. Experience has taught me that i should always stick to things that I love, as it always produces the best results, and I tackle it with such enthusiasm.

Anyway a bit more about me in Pakistan. I was offered a three month paid internship with a group called RSPN -http://www.rspn.org/ – not the most exciting web page in the world, but none the less its still and interesting organisation. Within the company I work with a group called the ‘Enterprise Facilitation Unit’ (EFU). We help small groups of artisans develop their skill, mainly embroidery, and help them learn how to market themselves correctly and push their profit margins up. I’m here mainly because of my ‘finishing’  skills, which means i get to be really picky about straight seams, neat stitches, loose threads and checking for ball point pen. I’m also here because I did a small bit of work on costings during my degree and its being full exploited, along with the templates I was given to work out the percentages for WSP (whole sale price), profit margins etc. 

We work out of a small office in Islamabad, and travel on a regular basis to four other areas across the country, where the artisans work. In the North we visit Gilgit and Hunza both of them tucked at the bottom of Pakistan’s mountain ranges. Then at the opposite end of the country we go to Mithi and Sukkur. Mithi is right out in the desert in the south east of the country and Sukkur is in a rather arid area in between Islamabad and Karachi. Each area specialises in a unique embroidery technique, the designers from the west that we introduce to the women utilise these techniques to produce something completely individual.

Anyway I hope you find it interesting and if there’s anything that you’d like to know more about, or like to see pictures of just drop me a note and I’ll do my best to include it in my posts. 

Claire x

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