Ishkar: How two former UAE residents launched an online marketplace for artisans living in war-torn countries

Edmund Le Brun and Flore de Taisne, who launched Ishkar to change people’s perceptions about conflict-affected countries, say sales have doubled in 2020

Ishkar founders Edmund le Brun and Flore de Taisne. Ishkar

If you’ve visited a foreign country, and felt like you’ve left a piece of yourself behind, you’ll relate with Edmund Le Brun and Flore de Taisne.

The duo met while working in Kabul, Afghanistan, Le Brun with NGO Turquoise Mountain and de Taisne as a consultant for aid agencies. However, when they left, they quickly got frustrated with how the rest of the world perceived the country that they had come to love.

“People had this idea that it was a deserted place with little culture and history which was not a fair reflection of the country at all. We wanted to launch a business that would change all that,” says Le Brun.

The duo brainstormed ways to show how capable and multifaceted these countries are – which was how Ishkar, an online marketplace for artisans living in war-torn countries, was born.

The name is derived from a plant found in the deserts of Northern Afghanistan that, when burned, turns into a substance that can be used to make dyes more vibrant. "It's an emblem of how something that looks ordinary could have extraordinary properties when you use it right," explains Le Brun.

One of the first products Ishkar started dealing with were hand-blown glasses that were made by artisans in Afghanistan for over 2,000 years. While there were dozens of workshops creating the products in the past, the duo were only able to find one artisan who still did it, and ordered 5,000 glasses from him “to get the industry going again.”

“It’s one of our core products, and one of the most popular. No two glasses are the same,” says Le Brun.

Handblown glasses from Afghanistan were the first products that Ishkar started selling. Ishkar

That was in 2016. In the years that followed, Ishkar has branched out and sells a variety of products – jewellery from Kabul to homeware from Pakistan to face masks from Somalia.

“Each product tells a story about the person who made it, where it comes from, what’s unique about it. Not a lot of people are able to source products from the same places. If you visit trade fairs, you’ll find that these countries are often underrepresented.”

Ishkar currently sources products from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Burkina Faso and Myanmar. Brun cites brass lamps from Yemen and jewellery created by Saeeda Etebari, an Afghani artisan as examples of their bestsellers.

Saeeda Etebari, designer from Afghanistan, is one of the artisans who sells products through Ishkar. Ishkar

Le Brun and Taisne moved to the UAE in May 2019 to better handle the international business before leaving for London in March 2020. They have since also launched a brick-and-mortar space in London.

Meanwhile, the company aims to help artisans by not only giving them access to an international market but also by buying from them at an above-market rate. “We work like a retail business on most aspects. But the idea has always been to help artisans that have lost their market due to reasons like war.”

The initiative became all the more important during the pandemic with tourism slowing down all over the world, and affecting the livelihood of thousands of artisans who depended on it to sell their goods. “Interestingly, our sales have doubled last year which I think is a result of people spending more time at home, thinking about the interiors of their house,” says Le Brun.

Traditional Yemeni lanterns have been designed in collaboration with artisans from the Old City of Sanaa are one of Ishkar's bestsellers. Ishkar

In 2019, the founders launched another arm of their business – a travel enterprise that took people to offbeat countries to change their perceptions about the places. While Le Brun admits that the timing was inconvenient (the travel aspect started in November 2019, just before the pandemic arose) he stands by its launch.

“We don’t think of Ishkar as a single brand. We want to be considered more like a magazine in some respects which is why we also create movies on these places and have a blog. Maybe in the future we can have a record label. We are driven by what we love and that is to tell fair stories of these countries – and you can’t do that through any one medium.”

Jewellery happens to be one of Ishkar's bestselling items. Seen here, a brooch and ring from the Bonfire collection. Ishkar

The company had two trips to Afghanistan before the pandemic made travel impossible in 2020. They restarted their tours in 2021, with their first being to the Democratic Republic of Congo in February. They have trips scheduled to Pakistan in May and Yemen later in the year.

According to Le Brun, the best part about taking the road less travelled, quite literally, is that it makes for more authentic experiences.

"The world has become very flat in a way – you can go to a tourist hotspot and they have already worked out what tourists want to see and travel has become increasingly bland because of that. It's always the same hotels, same foods, same services.

Ishkar has expanded to a travel company that takes tourists to oft-visited places. It started with two trips to Afghanistan in 2020. Ishkar

“But countries that have been at war don’t have that structure. Tourism isn’t a big part of their economy so they aren’t trying to second guess what tourists want and the result is a more unique experience.

“One of the first things you’ll find when you visit these locations is the fact that they are affected by war is just the smallest part of the whole experience,” he says.

More information is available at Ishkar's website.