Salomé Bäumlin - Ait Selma
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Claudia AcklinManaging Director Swiss Science Council / Managing Director Lotos-Produktionen GmbH
When we talk about Creative Entrepreneurship today, we actually have to add a word to it: sustainable. „Sustainable Creative Entrepreneurship“ does reflect much better, what many designers and artists are about. They do not only want to sell their products but design them in a way they can be produced sustainably. The label Ait Selma – high quality carpets, uniquely manufactured in Morocco by Berber women and designed in Switzerland – is a very good example of this. It is actually part of the DNA of this start-up to safeguard a craft in Northern Africa that is about to be extinguished by using it in contemporary designs for western people. This supports some women to stay true to their cultural heritage in the High Atlas as well as to make a living weaving these carpets.
Already some time ago, Salomé Bäumlin started to work on a project, which turned into a joined venture of a Limited Liability company in Switzerland and a twin company in Morocco run by a partner who oversees production there. Salomé travels to Ouarzazate every two months or so, supervising quality and driving the process of production. In the desert, it might well happen that there are problems with weather conditions, the harvest, or other issues that will distract the women from working on the carpets. So there are also risks involved in a sustainable form of production, which might not occur in more standardised forms of manufacture: The colour of a product might be slightly different each time depending on the crop of a specific herb or the mastery of the art of weaving of a specific woman; also the political situation might send ripples of unrest through countries in Northern Africa (even though Morocco has been one of the calmer countries so far), etc.
Differences in colour or patterns need then to be explained to customers here, because Swiss people will have a very specific notion of and high expectations with respect to quality. This is the reason why Salome Bäumlin maintains that you need a dose of Zen Buddhism to accept that the “here and now” of a specific time of production will uncontrollably interfere with the product. With this there is something lost but also something else to be gained in handcrafted sustainable products. However, not only the customer will have to be re-directed towards other values and another buying behaviour, also the entrepreneur will have to deal with more uncertainty. This to an extent that her situation is more precarious compared to entrepreneurs that do not have to deal with nature or socio-cultural influences on their production so much.
Salomé Baumlin is in the middle of promoting and selling her products at Design Schenken, Blickfang, at the Bauarena in Volketswil, and at other selected places, one of them being an Art Gallery. She also is about to open a shop in Bern, at Progr. Whoever wants to buy her beautiful carpets will most certainly find her at this address: aitselma.com
