The Manifesto of Artist and Textile Designer,

Melina Finkelstein

I am writing this manifesto as a person who learned a hard lesson that could change the world. The sharp edges of truth are easier on my soul if I can organize them into a vision that heals another soul. My ideas have incubated during a lonely period of deep reflection and recovery from profound loss. I would like to offer this as a testimony of what I want to make important about my experiences as a working artist. 

When I was 19 I predicted my own exploitation. I predicted “the pain of aggression” that  unfolded like a labyrinth around my heart. I understood that my fate revealed a deep power imbalance that impacted everyone all the time in positive or negative ways based on unacknowledged rules. If I can predict my own oppression can I also envision its end? Can I imagine new rules that are more fair for everyone? I don’t have much more to lose and I still have a voice and my desire to change what I can. I accept the open invitation from The Universe to design what I need as an artist and fulfill my mission to make the world beautiful for everyone. 

Competition bores me. It is a mindless impulse. I prefer self mastery and personal growth to comparisons to anyone. Collaboration is infinitely more interesting and is surrounded by opportunity and abundance. I am so grateful to my trailblazer therapist, Gina Mashburn Heath for introducing me to the Power With model that taps into the awesome dynamic potential of cooperation. The Power With model of interpersonal relationships seeks to replace the Power Over dynamic that divides us into powerful rulers and powerless subjects. How can I apply the Power With model to my art-centered business vision?

Catalytic Experiences in the Textile Industry That Informed my Vision of Fair Trade

My first textile job was selling bikinis. I pointed at the dressing room and said, “It’s right over there!”, in the most enthusiastic way possible. I was promoted to a model and made more money. The sales manager and photographer was gross. Lesson 1: Gatekeepers will stress me out. My modeling gig developed and I eventually made a decent living in New York while I started my painting practice. I worked as a fitter which placed me in design and sales meetings daily. That is when I saw and understood real systemic exploitation. I witnessed a predatory industry that is entirely based on the exploitation of vulnerable workers within the illusion that ANY financial payment in exchange for labor is defined as “support.” Therefore, workers were “lucky” to have jobs even if it meant living on the loading docks with children. But company owners were not “lucky” to have workers while they enjoyed luxury homes and private schools. This is the fallacy that I want to recalibrate. Fairness is a genuine place of balance between two or more parties that honors everyone in the circle. What happens if the power is unequally distributed? It’s not pretty.

When I established my rug company, Peace Industry, in 2003, I wanted to change the business culture in my industry. I wanted a fresh approach that leveraged my role as an artist in a way that could transform and bring positive change and support health and prosperity. I had the opportunity to imagine more transparent and better relationships with my production partners which I intuitively felt would provide stability and a robust path to growth. I noticed that my creative vision became the inspiration for the new paradigm. Being an artist gave me a voice and a unique opportunity to use my creativity to address social practices within my business community.

Are we really being honest with ourselves about how US-based companies are incentivized to exploit foreign workers as an underclass? One of the worst practices within the textile industry is the practice of cost negotiation that puts enormous pressure on foreign manufacturers to cut quality and labor. This practice suppresses workers compensation as it approaches commerce with a winner/loser mindset. When we define ALL payments to labor as support we can always justify requesting lower labor costs of suppliers. We don’t acknowledge the systemic unfairness: weak labor protections and foreign currencies, trade restrictions that favor U.S. interests to the detriment of manufacturing partners, nor the lack of stability that this brings into the supply chain. We can simply choose a new supplier that is willing to compete and move on. 

I am an American woman of color and an artist. How can I use my heart, mind and skills to change this system?

As an independent artist I can utilize my skills to insert myself into the supply chain between the artist/maker and the end user. My motivation for conducting business will be rooted in my sacred creative journey and desires for deep emotional and social fulfillment and will stand out as culturally significant. I will draw on my visual art skills to communicate dynamically with my audience. I can leverage my public personality to build my own retail channels. I can take the lead in creating new paradigms and use my own experiences with exploitation to be a catalyst for elevating consciousness. My success will reveal a new model available to creative entrepreneurs who want to trade fairly. And finally, I will practice self fairness. I will no longer allow anyone to exploit me as an artist. I will use my own voice to protect my art and legacy.

Here are three paradigm shifts that will add fairness to commercial trade:

• Embrace transparency. Acknowledge the humanity and dignity of textile artisans. Celebrate and recognize their talents and contributions as valuable members of the business community. 

• Build trusting and caring relationships with makers. Stop the practice of automatically requesting lower prices. Protect prices and respect that they are what they need to be to perform the job. If the price is too high then an adjustment to the business model is needed that does not lower the value of labor. 

• Update distribution models that demand huge margins between purchase price and retail price. Our current distribution model in the textile industry requires a markup that is unrealistic in today’s economy. The days are simply over when we could expect the retail price for high quality textiles to be marked up by at least 400% to fit into a distribution model that was designed in a different era before the internet provided direct access and when the US dollar reigned the global economy. Anything marked up that much will be made by exploited workers. What does an “update” look like? I envision small ventures run by artists and artisans who establish their own relationships and sales channels, who love to travel and learn about ancient crafts. I envision a model built on collaborative projects that serve to connect artists to each other like a fabric is woven by many threads. I imagine small ventures creating independent sales channels that market authentic and high quality textiles that are accessible to end-users with respect to price and delivery.

• Would you like to make a contribution to this living document? Your knowledge, expertise and experience are welcome here!