At Ohrna, every design decision is based on making your life just that little bit easier.
We believe form follows function. Our designs are therefore backed by a studied design sense and sensitivity that make them as practical to use as they are visually appealing.
All of these are made by our rural women partners, which is why our designs are not just easy to use – they’re easy to make, and easy to teach! For example, all our bags are designed for manufacture as a ‘bag-in-a-bag’, to make the finishing so much easier to achieve with in-home sewing machines.
Ohrna's objective is to combine traditional crafts and organic materials to make innovative, contemporary products of daily life, while always keeping in mind not just ease of use and beauty for the customer but also the abilities of makers who start out not as artisans but as housewives, often with no sewing or embroidery skills. Understanding their context gives a greater appreciation of the quality of their work, and helps us design to ensure that quality.
We are constantly seeking to balance our designs to be useful and practical, visually pleasing and marketable and in line with our makers' abilities that yet allows us to achieve the best possible handmade quality.
Our main design philosophy is that there is much beauty in simplicity!
Considering design as a tool of Inclusion and global outreach, Ohrna presented at the Interaction Designers Association Education Summit in Lyon, France in Feb 2019, on the topic ‘Can Design with a Purpose Inspire the Underserved?’
We’re always experimenting with different designs, patterns and colors to express our beliefs through our products...and that is what makes each one of them unique!
Ohrna believes in responsible design. Our focus is fourfold: use of sustainable materials, employment of rural and home-bound women, preservation of rich craft traditions and packaging in up cycled materials. We train for free and often employ women with minimum skills. We design to customers' needs and also constantly adapt our designs for ease of making, for our makers.