Moderated by Iaia founder Arianna Calabrese, the discussion featured Chrissa Amuah of AMWA Designs, Spandana Gopal of Tiipoi, and Tashi Goldring of Turquoise Mountain. Together, they examined questions of cultural ownership, authorship, and exchange—asking how we can move beyond the binary of designer and artisan, and how heritage crafts might evolve without losing their integrity.
The event created a space for honest and vulnerable dialogue, one that celebrated collaboration across borders and reimagined the role of craft in a globalized world. It remains a defining chapter in Iaia’s ongoing exploration of cultural connection through material and making.
Arianna Calabrese is the founder of Iaia Caravan, an ethical fine jewellery brand that celebrates the crossroads of the world through a small range of heirloom jewels and objects. With the aim to revitalize dying craft traditions around the world, Iaia re-links ancient trade routes that have existed since antiquity, but have been broken due to war, colonization, and mass-production.
Chrissa Amuah is a British-Ghanaian designer, curator, editor and creative consultant. Founder of the luxury homeware and interiors brand AMWA Designs, for which she draws inspiration from Ghanaian Adinkra symbols. Best described as a multi-disciplinary designer, she collaborates with world-leading multinational brands to bring her unique perspective, complimented with African sensibilities, to their projects.
Tashi Goldring is a textile designer and project manager for Turquoise Mountain’s Myanmar textiles programme. She has worked across the world with refugees and conflict affected artisan communities, focusing on developing products that connect artisans to global markets, preserving traditional crafts by training the next generation and empowering women to earn an income from their artisan skills.
Spandana Gopal is the founder of Tiipoi, a brand dedicated to the union of craft and culture between London and Bangalore. Founded in 2013, its design studio crafts minimal, practical objects inspired by the design of daily life in India, with a commitment to rewriting the narrative between craftspeople and the pitfalls of the production chain.