Sasha Titchkosky x Russel Koskela

KOSKELA & ELCHO ISLAND WEAVERS

“I think consumers have woken up to the fact that most people, particularly in the developed world, have enough of most things,” says Sasha Titchkosky, cofounder of Koskela. For 20 years, the Sydney-based design brand has traded on finding the “fair” fulcrum between profit and purpose, local craftsman’s hand and client home, manufacturing process and planetary concern. “So creators and originators of products have to start thinking outside the box or you end up only competing on price,” she continues. The euphemistic ‘outside’ that orders the thinking of Titchkosky and husband Russel Koskela’s enterprise is often the overlooked and underresourced regions that foster the talents of First Nations people. “Projects like Yuta Badayala are a true collaboration as neither partner could achieve the outcome alone,” Titchkosky says of the culturally resonant lights made by the traditional Yolngu weavers from Elcho Island Arts in the Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land. “Yuta Badayala means ‘a new light’ and this is exactly what we wanted to achieve — a broader audience and a new market for the incredible talent of these artists. We also want to challenge the perceptions held about Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to show what’s possible with persistence, authenticity and collaboration.”