Joe-to-Go Cafe

Another location where you can find Cambodia Knits products in Siem Reap is at Joe-to-Go Cafe. The cafe is located near the Old Market and serves tasty food and delicious coffee. It's the business of The Global Child, an NGO working with street children in Siem Reap, ensuring they have access to education and a path out of poverty. More about the organization here. Mony with our display in the boutique above the cafe:

CK at Circle Boutique

So while in Siem Reap last week, I arranged to have CK products on consignment sales at three locations. The first is Circle Boutique, a recently opened shop on Alley West, an up and coming area of Siem Reap near Pub Street. Circle is the collaborative effort of Lauren Iida and Rachel Faller, two amazing designers, both of whom are using their talents and energy for good. The opening was just a few weeks ago and already the shop is proving to be popular with local expats and tourists.

We're happy to have our products in such a lovely spot.



To learn more about the work of Rachel and Lauren, read and follow the links below.

Circle is a social enterprise which employs young at-risk women from impoverished rural areas of Cambodia. Circle provides a safe and healthy workplace, fair wages, Khmer & English literacy classes, clothing design training, and a variety of ongoing projects promoting self-confidence and creativity. You can read more about the project here.

Keo Kjay is a social enterprise that was established in Cambodia to train and provide jobs for women living with HIV in Phnom Penh through creating handmade items out of their homes. We sell accessories, clothes and gift items, all made of recycled and sustainable materials, and we follow Fair Trade principles in all aspects of our business. More info here.

The workroom is full

Only a few more days until the the Artisan's Association of Cambodia (AAC) sponsored Craft Fair in Siem Reap. Vyrak and Koun are working with us for the week to make sure we have enough products to display in our booth. Koun has recently bought a moto, which is fantastic because it not only means it's easier for him and Vyrak to come to PP, but because it means he's earning enough to be able to get a moto! What could be a better indication of our success than that? However, Koun is among the knitters who caught on really quickly and who knits incredible amounts each week. There are others who are not as fast and are not earning as much as he is. He also works with his wife and together they make quite the production team. Once we get into more shops, especially in Siem Reap, we'll need to revisit our piece rates and consider other ways to ensure everyone is earning a livable wage.

Back to the sale. It will be held outside the Angkor National Museum on the road to Angkor Wat. We'll have a small booth among 70 others representing other craft producers and artisans from around Cambodia. The organizers are expecting about 10 000 visitors to the fair over the 5 days it is running. Our super designer is working on posters and banners and ideas for making our booth irresistible and we're just planning the logistics of getting there, setting up and spending a week in SR. I've promised staff enough time off to go visit the temples, so I hope there is enough down time during each day for them to do that.

Here are some earless pigs being prepared for next week. They look silly without their ears...