// A NEPALI WOMANS VIEW ON OUR CELLPHONE SOCIETY //

"For a simpleton like me,

it’s difficult to understand many things 

of today.

 I don’t understand phones. 

And the songs they play.

 Today everyone has their own songs and 

everyone has their own phones. 

And little children wear lipstick and dance. 

Back then we sang the only one or two songs 

that everyone danced to and there were no phones. 

Back then everyone talked with everyone. 

Cried together, danced together. 

No lipsticks, back then." 

(Chapagaun, Lalitpur)

You can get more wisdom & good stories

at 

www.storiesofnepal.com

Slow Fashion Love

Karoline & Anne-Marthe 

// BEAUTIFUL NEPAL //

'With every journey I embark on,
I discover new things about Nepal
and her beautiful people.
 A deep sense of realization as to how
I have taken Nepal for granted many times.
 And it is only through travel will I unlearn
what has been fed to me.
Recently, I have been walking
 the western hills of Nepal,
talking to people and taking pictures.
 A few of these villages are quite remote,
 but pristine.
 The nature here is a feast to the eyes
and the people are holy
- innocent, welcoming and resilient.
Amidst all hardship of poverty,
years of neglect,
social ills and unfriendly geography,
 they still prevail with their
heartfelt stories of daily struggles
and there hopes and dreams.
What will follow is my experience
of talking and listening to their stories

Some laughter shared,
some songs sung
and
some tears shed.'
Words & Pic by Jay Poudal,our friend and the guy behind
www.Stories of Nepal.com

// BOOM! OUR CHANDRA NECKLACE IN ELLE MAGZINE //

Bonjour!
Get that Modern Bohemian Style
with a beautiful kimono,
 a neat silk scarf
or your
favorite necklace.
 What about our half moon inspired
Chandra Necklace
featured in
Norwegian Elle's March issue?
available at
 www.abareness.no

// OUR PINTEREST UNIVERSE //

Want to see more of what inspire us? 
Follow us on Pinterest?

www.pinterest.com/abareness/


Slow Fashion love,
Anne-Marthe & Karoline x

// IWD 2015 //

Did you watch it yet? 

India’s Daughter,

 The highly controversial documentary, 

that focuses on the

 rape case of Jyoti Singh

 who was brutally beaten and raped

 in Delhi in 2012? 

Now banned in India, 

the documentary

has made its way to the

 World Wide Web. 

Watch it here: 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-

reviews/11450616/Indias-Daughter-review-chilling.html

Since it's 

International Women's Day today

we thought we should share the link 

to this important story as we 

believe that education for everyone is

the key to a greater understanding 

of differences within cultures

and social machinery. 

In Nepal, unfortunately we also experience

 sexual harassment plenty of times.

 This is something that hardly ever 

has happened

 to us when in Norway, 

but in meeting with other people of other 

traditions, culture, mindset. 

As said in this documentary, 

Jyotis parents are quite traditional,

 but they had modern thoughts. 

That's why they choose 

to sell their land anddo everything they could

to get Jyoti an education.

They were often questioned by 

other people why they did this as Jyoti

was clearly a girl and therefor 

it was kind of a waste, 

bur for Jyotis parents she was

their child and as loved if she would be as boy. 

Seems that too many people in this 

world means that being modern/ living a modern life 

is synonymous with going 

against religion and/or traditions 

and do not realize that is might be possible 

to combine? 

Every time I get my ass or my crouch 

( yes, that happens too and it is absolutely horrible!!!)

 grabbed on the street or in a bar, I try to keep calm 

,turn around and then I ask the 

( Undereducated? Supressed? Sexually frustrated?)

 guy if he would like that to happen to his mother or his sister??? 

The answer is mostly no and they get to understand

 what they are doing with something 

they can relate too as often in Nepal

 the men are very protective

 of ( their) women.

 But there are positives too

and just last

year it was the first time we

 saw females

working as waitress in cafes

& bars so changes

are happening here too! 

#equality #heforshe #backoffmybody

#educationforeveryone

Karoline x

// Life in Nepal //

Snapshots from Swayambhunath,

also called The monkey temple.

This is one of the most popular temples in 

the KTM Valley. 

It is actually one big Buddhist Stupa

( first pic ) 

& 

several smaller traditional Hindu temples

gathered together on a hill top. 

Locals, tourists & lovebirds

 go here to pray and make blessings

or just to enjoy the view over Kathmandu 

at

sunrise or sunset. 

Read more about Swayambhu here: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swayambhunath

Leaving Nepal on Sunday and 

I think I would have to drop by

this spot for 

one last sunrise before

Norway is calling. 

Karoline x

Blog Action Day #inequality

It's interesting that one of the synonym words for

 inequality is imbalance. 

Time to get things more balanced? 

Nobel peace prize winner Malala & actress Emma Watson

are two strong and inspiring women addressing

this imbalance and taking part in the change.

As Malala commented on winning the peace prize:

"My message to all children: stand up for your rights.

This award is for you"

Malala is not only talking for girls & women. 

She wants education for everyone. 

Equal right for every human being. 

Whenever we think about or talk about inequality

we are most likely to address it as

inequality between the sexes. 

And we all know that the feminist fight has become a 

"negatively" loaded word.

As the actress Emma Watson talks about it in her speech

for the UN and the solidarity movement

"He for She"

it is important

and even depending on everyone,

both men & women, boys & girls

to take action!

If you have yet to hear her important

speech you can find it her: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkjW9PZBRfk

& 

the "He for She" Campaign video here: 

https://www.youtube.com/user/heforshe

We are all responsible to act up and

contribute to a more

balanced world.

To even out the inequalities

 between rich & poor.

To balance the inequalities between the

people in power & those without.

Every voice should be heard.

Blog Action Day is a great initiative to make 

awareness, engage and address 

issues that needs to get more focus, 

and hopefully not only today,

but that we take action whenever we have to possibility

to be part of the change for a 

more balanced & better world for everyone.

So we are ending todays

blogpost with

more words from Malala:

 "This is not the end of this campaign; this is only the beginning. I want to see every child going to school." 

Karoline & Anne-Marthe

Nepal/Norway

★ S.C.R.E.A.M ★

The street art scene in the Kathmandu

valley is exploding & cycling around

we are spotting new colorful & inspiring

 art every day! 

This one was a bit more 

familiar to my eye though as 

it is different styles

of replicates of

the 

famous piece of art 

"The Scream"  

by the Norwegian painter 

Edward Munch

(1863-1944)

I'm sure Mr. Munch himself,

would have love to 

see this piece

on a otherwise grey

concrete wall in the middle

of Kathmandu city anno 2014. 

Do you like street art too? 

Follow us & share your

favorite street art 

on Pinterest? 

http://www.pinterest.com/abareness/

Karoline & Anne-Marthe x

Lucky one?

Just try to remember to be happy for
the small things and if you are
amongst the lucky & fortunate ones,
maybe there is something
you can do for somebody
elses fortune? 

// RANDOM NEPAL //

Been going trough some old pictures
so here's a
small selection of some random shots
from back in 2010.

Enjoy and hope you find 
some of the pics funny too..
Going left? ;)

Karoline x

*** HAPPY DASHAIN FESTIVAL ***

Happy Dashain
to all our
Nepali co-workers & friends!

What is Dashain you wonder?

It is the most important festival/holiday
in Nepal- it is not only
the longest festival, but also the
most anticipated one.
 The most common comparison
is to compare it to our
Christmas holiday
as it is all about family gatherings
& food,
but less of the gifts...

Dashain symbolizes the victory
of good over evil and the main
Goddess worshiped by the Hindu Nepali people
 is Shakti,the Goddess of power
or empowerment, but the
Newari tribe & buddhist Nepali people
have different Gods & rituals.

These days the factory &
Metal Workshop are
closed and we are gonna take
some time of as well and take part
in the festival; 
Tomorrow we are going to our Nepali
families house to
make puja( blessings ).

Will post more pics later on.
Btw, the pics are from the Metal Workshop
and we are captured with some of
 the metal smiths 
that are making all the A/BARENESS
Jewellery. Hope they all get a great holiday! :)
 

Karoline & Anne-Marthe x

★ Style Inspo ★

It is always interesting and inspiring
to see how the fashion stylists put together
outfits & how they choose to combine
our designs!

Like the way the stylist has combined 
our wide "Aakar" Bracelet, which
shape is actually the outlines of the
map of Nepal 
and our "Himanchal" hilltop bracelet. 

And the best thing is that you do not 
necessarily need to buy the same clothes
 & 
accessories to 
create a similar look. 
Usually it is the silhouette and the
combination of different structured
fabrics, your favorite colors and/or patterns
and finally to top it off with your own
personality that creates a nice outfit
and
 great personal style, 
rather than copying directly. 

I have now been on a "Shopping Time-Out"
for the whole of 2014 
and it truly makes me more creative with what
I already got in my closet, but also 
more true to my own style, even
though my outfits do vary from 
just casual, 
to casual chic, sometimes more rock chic
 &
then again I occasionally feel like 
dressing up in more feminine outfit too.

I've been on a "Shopping Time-Out" before 
& I realize now doing it for the
2nd time that it really makes
me re-connect with my clothes even more
than before. 
Good feeling! You might want to try it too :)  

Karoline x

...If you only IMAGINE...

We love streetart! 

Imagine, or Sneha Shrestha which is 
her real name, 
is one of the street artists here
 in Nepal and her art can
 be spotted 
on different walls all around
the Kathmandu valley. 

Her signature style is to write different words
 & 
messages in Devanagari using her signature 
calligraphy style. Love it! 

Devanagari is the 
 nepali and (hindu!) alphabet/script
which I know how
to read, all though VEEEEEERY
slooooowly,
 like a 6-year old learning to read 
for the very first time. Haha :) 

Check out more from Imagine
on her blog
her: 

https://snehashrestha.wordpress.com/tag/kathmandu-street-art/

and her FB- Page her: 
https://www.facebook.com/imagine876?fref=ts


Karoline x

CULTURAL DIVERSITY BY STYLE

When in Nepal, everyday & everywhere

 we go we see nepali women 

wearing beautiful jewellery which

is also a symbol of wealth. 

Each tribe has their own style 

so if you know what to look for you can tell

wich tribe they belong to by having 

a glimpse on the 

jewellery they are wearing. 

Yellow gold is

definitely the most popular precious metal, but

just recently we got to learn that 

there is actually one tribe down south that

only wears silver ( bottom pic ) 

Interesting. 

Have to look more into that later 

on. 

One thing all the tribes have in common, 

is a gold or silver amulet that is worn to 

to ward off evil spirits. 

The jewellery also reflects creativity 

and special skills of the artisans who 

have been crafting these ornaments

for generations.

Keeping these traditions alive 

is one of the main reasons we work

with handmade jewellery. 

Man over machine.

Slow Fashion Love from 

Karoline & Anne-Marthe