The women in The Flame Tree co-operative

Set up by Lesley Somers in 2006, The Flame Tree is a fair trade company working with communities in the north of Ghana, and North London.

It has two main goals: the first is to run a co-operative from Ghana, commissioning fair trade goods to sell in the UK market; the second is to involve and train young people from London, and potentially Ghanaian backgrounds, in business skills while also encouraging interaction between these two communities.

The Flame Tree co-operative, based in Tumu in Northern Ghana, provides local women with a way to supplement their income and improve their skills. The company employs the expertise of batik artists to train the women in new printing and dying techniques, and also arranges micro-finance to enable the co-operative to buy electric sewing machines and other vital equipment.

Printing batik patterns onto the fabric; Boiling the fabric to remove the wax

Hand carved batik stamps; Example of a batik fabric produced by the women

Having formerly ran individual, small sewing establishments the women now work together to plan production. One of their main products, batik cloth is made outdoors on large wooden tables, using patterns from wooden or foam batik stamps – often bearing traditional Ghanaian Adinkra Symbols.

It takes three or four women working together to produce one batik. As the pattern is carefully applied, one person follows behind with a brush filling in any large gaps. Meanwhile another group mix the dyes, into which the cloth is thoroughly turned and stirred to make sure the colour is even, before it is laid out to dry.

Ironing the finished fabric; Removing the waxed fabric from the dye

Women hand weaving cotton fabrics on traditional looms; Sewing the batik fabric into finished products

Two batik pieces may be waxed in one day. Once dry they are plunged into a large pot of boiling water to remove the wax, which is then collected from the surface of the water and re-used. Once the cloth is prepared, Victoria, Danisha or Rita will cut out the cloth and sew the finished articles to send to the UK. Apart from the rich African batiks, the women also produce beautiful hand woven cloth, glass beads and baskets.

There are only ten women in the co-operative at present. They have their own Co-Operative bank account, and hold regular meetings to make group decisions. Prices are decided by discussion between Victoria, the leader of the co-operative and Lesley Somers, The Flame Tree founder. If they are too high, goods won’t sell in the UK, if too low, the women won’t benefit from a good income.