Company Summary:
Living Blue is a dream, stitched and dyed, made for a lifetime by women and men of high craftsmanship and dignity.
Living Blue produces indigo, and handmade couture textiles, for home and hi-fashion.
We started off as a governance project of CARE Bangladesh, in the northern part of Bangladesh, in 2005. Built around the idea of empowering and training women and men as natural leaders, so they can work together with the government to solve local issues.
Soon after, in 2006, there was an organic demand from the communities. The people in the villages wanted work! The Northern region of Bangladesh is a largely agrarian society with few other means of generating income. In response to the demand, Nijera Cottage and Village Industries was formed, the umbrella organization of Living Blue.
Indigo crops were identified and revived in the region, and the local artisans honed their skills in quilting, or kantha stitching. In addition, the workers developed the ability to use the Japanese art of resist stitching, or shibori. Living Blue places an emphasis on craftsmanship and strives to continuously improve and develop our techniques.
What sets Living Blue apart, besides its high craftsmanship, is the governance structure. Since the company was born out of a governance project as a result of the organic demands of its people, most of the management and decision making also lies with the people.
Living Blue has 3000 indigo farmers and over 200 artisans and dyers as members, spread throughout hundreds of villages in northern Bangladesh.
We are the largest producer of the high quality True Bengal natural indigo in Bangladesh, proudly reviving the famous indigo from this part of Bengal. True Bengal indigo is our flagship product and quilting, shibori and dyeing are our defining skills.
Design House:
Living Blue artisans are natural designers and art revivalists. They bring in generational knowledge, know-how and skill to each fabric they work with and collection they create. With each collaboration, the creativity of our artisans inspires the international designers we work alongside.
Living Blue is proud to foster experimentation. We are constantly experimenting with dyes, fabrics, quilting techniques and shibori. Through these explorations, we challenge our design partners and work together to produce unique masterpieces. We produce art. We produce couture.
Collaborations:
At Living Blue we believe in the power of collaboration. We have partnered with an array of designers, design houses, and boutiques. Living Blue brings our unique designs and high craftsmanship and each of our collaborators brings their ideas and knowledge of their respective markets .
The philosophy behind our collaborations is to exchange ideas with creatives from around the world, sharing knowledge to produce couture.
Services:
As a dyeing house, Living Blue provides dyeing services to national and international design houses. All our dyes are natural, and we only work with fabrics made of natural fibers.
Our dyers have perfected their craft at the Living Blue atelier, with over a decade of experience working with natural indigo, madder, myrobalan fruit, pomegranate shell, eucalyptus leaf, onion skin, banana flower and betel nut. We use a combination of dyes to produce exceptional shades on myriad cotton and silk fabrics.