SEAL of Excellence
The SWDC is the proud recipient of the UNESCO SEAL of Excellence award.
UNESCO is the branch of the UN that celebrates and supports arts worldwide. The SEAL of Excellence award serves as a quality control mechanism of hand-made traditional and innovative products. It guarantees that awarded products have been made to meet the highest standards of quality and have been produced with careful regard to cultural authenticity and environmental conservation.
The SWDC has been awared the SEAL of excellence for the follopwing designs:
Click any of the images for a close up view of the silk
Scarf de Royale
Autumn Shades
Evening Shades
Choosing the SEAL products
An international selection panel, nominated by UNESCO, judges products based on meeting all the following six criteria.
To be certified with the SEAL, a product must be:
- Excellent: Demonstrated excellence and standard–setting quality in craftsmanship; determined by the use of high quality materials, a high standard of technique and the special attention to manufacturing detail
- Authentic: Expression of cultural identity and traditional aesthetic values; demonstrated by a well-achieved application of aesthetic and cultural expression or traditional technique
- Innovative: Innovation in design and production: Demonstrated by an effective and successful blend of traditional and contemporary, or inventive and creative use of material, design, and production processes
- Eco-friendly: Respect for the environment in materials and production techniques; exemplified through the use of natural dyes, natural fibres, recycled materials and the use of materials and production processes that are environmentally friendly
- Marketable: Marketability of the products with potential for the world market; related to the functionality of the product, the safe use by potential buyers, a balanced price-quality relationship or the sustainability of production
- Fair: The producer must affirm that no labour law was violated and no individual or group exploited unfairly at any stage in the production.