Browsing by Subject "Mauritania"

This research aims to bring new information to how Finnish customer see products that are handmade in developing countries. First goal of the research was to build a picture of what Finnish customers think about these products and what kind of things they value when buying the product. This part will also rise up how the products could be made even better and to fit more to Nordic customers taste. The information gain will be used to design product suggestions to Finnish development cooperation organisation AavikonRuusu. AavikonRuusu works at Mauritania and brings handmade products made by local women to be sold in Finland. At the moment the products and their quality varies a lot. The organization hopes to have few product ideas that would suit Finnish customers taste and are easy enough for women in Mauritania to make. With the new product ideas the sell would increase and the products would be better quality than before. The aim is development that would benefit the women in Mauritania and help them to improve their living standards. This research was carried out as an action research. The research was processed in cycles. Every cycle produced important information about the subject and guided to the next phase. The ground inquiry was about Finnish customers' opinions about the handmade products made in developing countries. Based on the results the product suggestions were made. In another inquiry the customers were asked comments about the new product suggestions. After that the final products were chosen, pictures and instruction needed were made and delivered to AavikonRuusu representative. The research revealed that Finnish customers think positively about products made in developing countries and see them beautiful. However, many feel that the products do not fit to their own style. Because of that, customers seem to buy handmade products only infrequently. Answerers in the queries wish that the handmade products would be less colourful and a bit simpler. These wishes have been taken in notice while designing the product suggestions. The suggested products are made simple enough to women in Mauritania to make. They don't enquire lot of skills or materials to be made. In design process there is also taken to consideration the possibilities for Mauritanian women to modify the product and use their imagination