Franca Art and Fashion & TMS Group
“I Am Haiti” Art Scarves Project
One month after losing their home, school and every possession to Haiti's earthquake, 100 children from the Maranatha School and Orphanage came together and created 208 masterpieces of art. The children had been sleeping outside, on the streets or under tents since the earthquake.
The project was the initiative of documentary filmmaker Kevin O'Hanlon (FilmsOnArtists) who collaborated with artist Richard Laurent and the Life For The World team to bring canvasses and painting supplies to Maranatha which has been the home and school to over 100 children since 2002.
The concept was to help the kids create their very first paintings. They painted what they wanted to occur in their lives - a home for their family, trees, clothes to wear, a car to drive to town in. The paintings were exhibited at O'Hanlon's Rogue Space | Chelsea Gallery and the proceeds helped restore the orphanage to its original working condition.
Next level. Enter Franca Art and Fashion & TMS Group
On seeing the children's painting exhibition, Frank and Caroline Fleischer, who together run a non-profit charitable organization, Franca Art and Fashion, decided to help. Caroline struck on the idea of creating a line of luxury scarves made of the finest cashmere featuring the children's artwork. Caroline's vision was to create a series of scarves which could be sold in stores around the world to support the children's ongoing education and development. Caroline is CEO of Talents For Fashion, a consulting and international recruitment agency for the fashion industry. Mr. Fleischer is the CEO of TMS Fashion, one of the largest clothing manufacturing companies in Asia. The scarves were manufactured in New Delhi, India. TMS Fashion has been praised by the UN for it’s exemplary adherence to Fair Trade practices and labour laws.
The net proceeds go 100% to building a sustainable community for the children of Maranatha and to creating a more secure future for them. Together with Franca Art and Fashion and the TMS Group, we will develop trade schools, provide for second and third level education, develop means for a stable food supply, and design a model for sustainable living in Haiti that will give hope and inspiration to neighboring communities and all of Haiti.
The most powerful part is that all of this came from the children's initial creative act of painting their future. They expressed what they wanted their futures to be like and those things are now all becoming reality.
The core principals will remain true to the project which evolved at the Maranatha School and Orphanage, developing creative means, locally derived, to create children’s education and to creating sustainable communities that will serve as models to encourage similar projects in that region. FilmsOnArtists will continue to use the medium of film to document and engage people with each project.
FilmsOnArtists is currently producing an ongoing documentary about the project and will continue to help projects in developing countries around the globe seek out creative solutions to children’s needs. We are currently seeking completion funding for the documentary.
Kevin O'Hanlon
FilmsOnArtists.com
Caroline Fleischer
Franca Art and Fashion
Talents For Fashion
Frank Fleischer
Franca Art and Fashion
TMS Fashion
Dennis Lau
TMS Fashion
