Knitch Magazine

There’s a change in the world…and it’s changing the way we think about business, how we make our buying decisions, and what we can do to help one another. This change is not being implemented through the latest government edict or the newest initiative by a corporate conglomerate. It’s being achieved through the hearts of people who live their values, and the hands of artisans who carry on traditions of the past.

In the 1990s, Joel and Sharon Woodcock moved a world away from their home in the Bay area to the impoverished country of Vietnam. While he conducted business there, Sharon befriended her new neighbors, learning about them, their culture, and their artistry. She grew close to two Vietnamese ladies, social workers, who sold embroidered silk pillows and hand-crafted souvenirs to tourists. The women told her they’d been inspired by an elderly lady who had taught them how to sew and embroider small dolls.

The elderly woman had hoped that someday many local women could generate an income for their families by reviving traditional handicrafts rather than being forced to perform exhausting labor in the rice fields, or move away from home to find jobs in the bigger cities. By learning traditional skills, women would be able to provide for their families and their future while helping to retain the culture and craftsmanship of the past.

It was a simple, magnificent goal these social workers embraced and hoped someday to achieve. But, as we all know, even the simplest of goals are oftentimes difficult to accomplish. It takes a great leap of faith, a whole lot of work, and sometimes a chance collision with destiny to transform a hot spark of genius into the brilliant reality of creation.

Along came Sharon Woodcock.

With her Fine Arts diploma and years of experience in the world of corporate design, Sharon appreciated the exquisite handiwork and beautiful designs she saw in the fabrics, embroidery and weaving the ladies created. She appreciated the beauty, the complexity, and the talent it takes to painstakingly create each divinely delicate piece. And she had a kind enough heart to want to give help to these women.

She promised her friends she’d do something once she was home in America. Yes, she’d do something. But didn’t have the foggiest notion what that something would be.

When Joel’s work in Vietnam ended, the Woodcock’s were on their way home with gifts they’d acquired for their friends and family. Among them was a beautifully crafted rice basket that became an immediate hit with Sharon’s network of friends. They loved it so much, they clamored for her to get more.

“That,” says Sharon, “is when I knew there was a reason we’d been in Vietnam.”

They began to market the rice baskets (pictured left) to knitting stores in the area. One of the local yarn store owners, Linda Carter, encouraged them to attend TNNA (the National Needle Arts trade show) and learn the unmet needs of the marketplace. After receiving positive feedback about the merchandise and business concept, Lantern Moon was christened in 2001.

Starting from that one pretty rice basket, the company has expanded to offer a variety of handcrafted baskets and bags, knitting needles and fine accessories, all made out of natural materials from Vietnam. Today Lantern Moon products can be found in over 1500 needle arts, gift and women’s accessories stores in the U.S. and Canada, with distributors in the U.K., France and Australia.

Among their most popular items are their beautifully crafted needles that come in a variety of hardwoods: blonde, ebony and rosewood. Joel conducted research for four months before finally settling on which ones to offer Lantern Moon customers. The needles he selected are particularly light, which means they’re ideal for people with arthritis and mobility problems. We’re told that many knitters who had given up on knitting because they found it too painful have rediscovered the craft thanks to Lantern Moon’s needles.

“The fact that it’s beneficial for women with arthritis to knit with our wooden needles is really wonderful,” says Sharon. “And, of course, to have more women knitting and doing what they love is another blessing.”

True. But the greatest blessing may be that Lantern Moon has helped give Vietnamese women job security with a steady income at better-than-fair daily wage.

“This allows the women to help support their families while remaining at home,” Sharon says. “When families stay together, there’s an improved possibility for children to get a proper education – an important goal to every parent.

Today, Lantern Moon is extending their support of the arts and communities to Bali with the creation of beautifully handcrafted needle cases and accessory bags in exotic batik fabric. Authentic Balinese Batik is renowned for its rich colors on both sides of the fabric (pictured left). It’s made by stamping patterns onto cloth with copper stamps, applying wax to the fabrics, then immersing them in dyes. The wax is boiled out, and the process is repeated several times depending upon the complexity of the pattern. This time-honored art form is fast becoming an endangered textile process due to its labor intensive process.

“We’re hopeful that through focused efforts to provide a market for this amazing art form,” Sharon says, “that Bali Batik will be around for generations to come.”

Lantern Moon purchases the fabric from a family studio supporting many talented Batik artists. Then, it is sewn into magnificent needle cases and accessory bags. “We started the sewing project at the orphanage to provide vocational training for the young women,” Sharon says, “and to establish a business on site to help them become self sustaining and less dependent on sponsorship.”

The Lantern Moon organization has achieved success by remaining true to its original purpose: to help others by promoting original handicrafts and preserving cultural traditions.

As Sharon says, “When you follow your heart and have passion and integrity in whatever you do, I believe it will all work out the way it’s supposed to.”

Well said, Sharon. And better yet, well done.

A-Luoi tribe in Vietnam practices a long-venerated but fragile textile art: hand woven cloth with beads as design elements. It is woven on backstrap looms by a community of women in villages in the central highlands of Vietnam.