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Filaure
As did so many people in those early days, Valerie came
to Auroville from the U.K. full of dreams but with empty pockets, having left
England and her secretarial job in 1975 to join Auroville. In order to stay here
and provide for herself, and simultaneously give to Auroville, she had to find
ways to generate money. Seeing the poverty in India, she felt she should do
something that created employment for the local people. As she had always liked
fashion and clothing, she started a handicraft unit in her garden making simple
cross-stitch dresses with ladies from the local village. "The balance
between taking from and giving to the people is important," she found and,
some years later, working together with another Aurovilian, Valerie initiated
the unit Filaure and moved to a thatched hut in Auromodele.
The last decade
Filaure continued to develop a collection of children's
garments and clothing for adults, with the result that some eleven years ago
enough funds were generated to build a decent workshop and move to the
Industrial Zone. There, in 'Auroshilpam', close to other units of Auroville, the
unit now employs 40 local people with another 20 or so in a village building
during peak periods. All are adults, as it is against Auroville's policy to
employ children anywhere in Auroville.
Designing patterns
Nearly all positions in Filaure are occupied by local Tamil workers, who are
involved in everything from pattern making, cutting, tailoring, quality control
and export management. Besides Valerie, there are four other Aurovilians working
at Filaure. Tashi a Tibetan, taking care of quality control and designing
appliqués & embroidery for the childrens garments. Gabi from Germany is
responsible for the overall design of the patterns. Michael from U.K. who is
responsible for financial matters & computer systems and Sarala a local
Tamilian, looks after the quality control of the tailors' stitching.
The Future
Filaure has just purchased a specialised computer system for designing of
garments and pattern printing. This is a wonderful and stimulating new tool
usually only found in much larger factories. In the future Valerie plans to
offer a specialised garment design and pattern making service over the web which
would be an exiting new step in the growth of Filaure.
Third world shops
Filaure uses only materials and fabrics from India, mostly cottons with no
chemical dyes, and tries to stay as natural as possible. "From the start we
never had a problem to find clients. We don't want to be a mass producer, so we
never take more orders than we can manage to handle as quality is most important
for us," says Valerie. Their main export market is Germany, where they
largely work with organisations who contribute their profits to the third world
countries and to the environment, such as the WWF.
New boutique at Visitors Centre
This autumn, a new boutique is opening at the Visitors Centre together with the
other Auroville units Auromics, Shradanjali, Flame and Miniature. Filaure will
present its natural clothes in a harmonious new atmosphere to the visitors.
Masala mix
Valerie enjoys her work: "I like the East-West relationships very much. The
West has the capacity for organisation, while the East has all these fabulous
handicraft skills. It's a good masala mix."
Contact: filaure@auroville.org.in
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