It has been an interesting, and sometimes seemingly long, road. Though the idea for running a social enterprise has been churning for several years, I feel like I am starting to see the fruit of our labors and couldn’t be more excited.

Our very first shipment for Amsha goes on sale today. We are calling this our Pre-Launch Sale because it is only going out to friends and family and by word-of-mouth. All of the proceeds from this first shipment will be reinvested into our next order, which we hope will be larger and expand into a few more products. I would love your feedback. Comments, questions? We want to know! While we still have a long way to go (you might notice some wonky sizing on some things as we work out the kinks) we are really proud of what we have to offer in this sale. We are proud of our artisans who tried, and then tried again, to make exactly what we wanted. We are proud of them for coming up with their own designs. And we are proud that they were willing to try something new (like learning how to use a ring sizer!) to work within our expectations.

Sure, I stumbled along the way. Made mistakes in how I handled some things. But through all of the frustrations and headaches and inter-artisan dramas (trust me, no place is immune to petty arguments and gossip), there were many happy meetings, successes made, and we someone how pulled this off. I have learned so much in the past three months- about business…loads about international transactions, life, ethics, design, communication… you name it, I probably learned something about it (really… I even caught up on my slum lingo and learned what a flying toilet is). I was pickpocketed, had my apartment broken into, was robbed at gun point, got into both a motorbike and a bus accident, and despite all of those ‘setbacks’, I somehow proved something to myself. While I hope we sell all of those beatiful pieces hanging in our Facebook storefront, I know that I’ve accomplished something regardless of the sales figures and learned so much along the way.

Thank you again for continuing to follow along. Thank you soooo much to Emily for devoting hours and hours and hours of her time for free to help develop Amsha into what it is becoming (and for letting me vent or answering all of my emails essentially saying ‘Help!’). And thanks for all of you that provided feedback on design, pricing, and anything else I might have bugged you about! Be sure to go have a look and tell us what you think :) The launch line is in the works right now but still very open to the feedback we receive from this sale so chime in!

Where to find us:
https://www.facebook.com/amshastudio
amshastudio[at]gmail[dot]com