ppliances

living culture,” Page says, “so when other materials came into our existence, we started painting on everything.”

In the absence of written language in Aboriginal Australia, Page says objects tell their own stories— e.g., a boomerang used for hunting will feature an artistic narrative of a hunt. The same applies to cooking tools, which Aboriginal people painted, burned, and etched. Breville’s new range attempts to honor that history. While the Breville team came prepared with a surplus of blank appliances for the artists to interact with, Page says it was a “onetake wonder” as they meditatively got to work, painting directly onto the pieces. Each product contains a story—for instance, Yalti Napangati’s kettle, which depicts women preparing Piruwa tea around a watering hole, represented by the waterlevel window on the appliance.

The artists painted the pieces on site, but reproducing them faithfully proved to be more challenging for Breville. Page says she and Hoare spent around a year working through the technical aspects of how to imbue each appliance with the true tactile nature of the originals.

After a significant amount of trial and error, the team developed a 3D scanning process that accurately captures the texture and depth of the brushstrokes; the art is then reconstructed by hand in layers of applications, with Breville dubbing the end result indistinguishable from the original. The company has gone on to patent the technique.

The final production of 10,000 pieces, which are all individually numbered, releases in the U.S. today.

When it came to compensating the artists, Page wanted to raise the bar, so she partnered with an Aboriginal intellectual property lawyer, establishing a royalty for each item produced, with the artists retaining copyright. Moreover, “what has really blown my mind about Breville is that they’re going see page 22

Aboriginal Artists from page 21 to donate 100% of the profits,” Page says.

Per Breville, half of the funds will be used to support the National Indigenous Culinary Institute and the Moriarty Foundation, and the other half will fund Indigenous scholarships and initiatives at the University of Technology Sydney.

“I think the motivation for Breville to do the project in the first place was about saying, ‘This is what makes Australia unique,'” Page says. “‘This is about our land.’”

Page says storytelling is key to sustainability— imbuing an object with meaning and history can help eliminate the disposability of the modern world. And to her, that’s an essential part of the project at large.

“We can use the act of design as an act of power, and say, no, we’re not going to do this anymore. We’re not going to design all these ubiquitous objects that just get thrown away. We’re going to build story and meaning and preciousness and sustainability into everything we make from now on.” https://www.fastcompany.com/90880390/ aboriginal-artists-designed-brevilles-stunningnew-appliances

It may seem like a lofty goal, but hey—stranger things have happened. (Like, say, a major brand seeking to do right by a group of brilliant Aboriginal artists.)

Is Essential

COMMUNITY for the overall wellbeing of Black women, and Health in Her HUE is on a mission to help each one find her tribe.

Health in Her HUE

The platform was launched by public health innovator Ashlee Wisdom alongside strategic executor Eddwina Bright. Together, they’re using their expertise to fight against the health disparities faced by women who look like them across the nation.

These Founders are Behind a Digital Platform That Aims to Connect Black Women to Culturally Sensitive Providers

By Shanique Yates

“The reason why Health in Her HUE is particularly important for Black women is because Black women have some of the worst health outcomes and not because of anything that we’re doing wrong, but because of the structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism,” Wisdom told AfroTech. “And so because we have some of the worst health outcomes, it’s important for there to be equitable health care solutions that are tailored to the specific needs of Black women.”

Serving Women In The Digital Space

Health In Her HUE aims to help both Black women and women of color stay informed when making choices about their health, but, just as important, the digital space is there to help them feel empowered.

“We’re a digital health platform that connects Black women and women of color to racially inclusive and culturally sensitive healthcare providers,” Bright said. “We connect them with evidence-based content, essentially their lived experiences, and then we also connect them to community support.”

She continued:

“When we think about our products and what we offer, we describe it in three ‘Cs.’ The first ‘C’ is ‘connection’ and that’s our provider directory. We have about 1,200 providers across 60 specialties, currently listed on the platform. The second ‘C’ is ‘content.’ We have a content and research library that is separated into 10 different health and wellness topics. And then we have the ‘community’ ‘C.’ We offer a community forum, again, separated across those health and wellness topics where women can talk to each other or talk to healthcare providers. Another component of our community is our care squad program.”

The Health in Her HUE platform uses a vigorous onboarding process for providers, including a health interview. Rather than taking a data approach like many other companies, professionals looking to join Health in Her HUE have to self-opt in because it is vital that they are in alignment with the company’s broader mission.

“Our overall vision is to be the first touch point for Black women and women of color when it comes to their health,” Wisdom concluded. “And so what that actually means is that if a woman has a question related to her health, her first instinct isn’t going to WebMD or Google, but it’s Health in Her HUE’s content and resource library where she can find videos and articles on that particular condition.” https://afrotech.com/health-in-her-hues-

To learn more about Health in Her HUE, click here.