PRESS RELEASE MONDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2019 – 11.36AM GMT
As World Travel Market 2019 Opens in London,
The Top 10 “Luxuries” Of Bangladesh Curated by
British Ethical Luxury Brand Lovedesh, Is Launched
Lovedesh®, a new ethical British ethical luxury brand, today, (Monday, 4 November 2019), reveals on its website, a curated list of 10 ethical luxury travel experiences tourists “must do”, when visiting Bangladesh.
The start-up brand, run by a British mother and daughter design duo, is also proud to unveil its range of heritage fashion, fine food and slow travel experiences designed to coincide with the start of World Travel Market (WTM). “To kickstart a change in the narrative used by the luxury sector and to help transform how the rest of the world sees undiscovered destinations and nations often unfairly stigmatized by unbalanced narrative,” said Lovedesh founder Yasmin Choudhury.
From 4-6 November, 2019 Lovedesh will present a fashion show installation at WTM, called “The Six Seasons Fashion Performance & The Luxury Moments Of Bangladesh” at the Bangladesh Tourism Board stand AS540, at London’s Excel. Where it will launch its new fashion range as part of its mission to redefine “luxury” which focuses on the ancient, uncommon experiences that is becoming rare to find in tourist populated destinations.
In alphabetical order, the top 10 “Luxuries of Bangladesh” curated by Lovedesh are as follows:
- Ancient Fishing. The ancient rituals of otters and fisherman who still fish together.
- Bluest Of “Haors”. The freshwater wetland ecosystems of Bangladesh that turn into vast expanses of water, with villages often appearing as islands. These dry up during the winter and are a habitat for migratory birds.
- Climate-friendly transport. From pedal and electric rickshaws to electric tuktuks as well as
wooden boats. - The Dawat. Invitation to feast and sleep after dining on home cooked fresh dishes, featuring food from each of the six seasons of Bangladesh using only seasonal produce. Be it in the villages, the cities or rural artisanal food areas such as Jessore, where mustard is crushed into oil by walking an ox to pull an old stone grinder. Or collecting molasses from date trees.
- Heritage Textiles. Whether it is cotton muslin (Jamdani) are still woven on wooden looms, fabrics printed and dyed by hand or stitched needlework embroidery, the artisans of
Bangladesh remain the guardians of heritage skills under threat from fast fashion brands. - Hospitality and Kindness. Of its quiet and unassuming as well as larger than life characters.
- Folklore & Arts. Inspired by their national treasures such as Fakir Lalon Shah, Rabindranath Tagore, Hasan Raja and Kazi Nuzrul Islam. The Bidrohi Kobi or “Rebel Poet” who is the national poet of Bangladesh. Topics range from patriotism, the relationship between humanity and nature, broken hearts, unrequited love and of course, family bond.
- River & Rural Cooking. Using the ancient wood fired slow food cooking methods with freshly ground spices. As well as rice and dishes cooked in an underground earth barbecue and inside bamboo.
- Solitary & Silence. In Bangladesh you can still explore nature spots alone without meeting any tourists. This silence is wonderful for wellbeing.
- Sunderbaans. The UNESCO protected heritage site. On the trail of the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger & the daredevil honey collectors, who risk their lives each year climbing trees to smoke out hives.
Lovedesh® is now creating three tours designed to be kinder to people, planet and plants. And boosting incomes and showcasing the luxury heritage of Bangladesh to foreigners in a new way.
- Lovedesh® Luxe Dawat Tour– featuring elements from its curated luxury list.
- Lovedesh® Heritage Tour – for Bangladeshi diaspora and 2nd, 3rd, 4th generations of first-generation immigrants to UK, USA, and EU, wishing to explore their heritage and examine their ancestry and roots.
- Lovedesh® Tech Retreat Tour – a short break that allows tired, stressed adults to unwind and relax by removing all gadgets and tech.
Lovedesh is a start-up run by London based founder Yasmin Choudhury and Amber Choudhury-Kaye, makeup-artist and stylist who possess heritage from Bangladesh. “Our dream is to use heritage fashion and fine food to smash negative images of unfairly stigmatised nations often ignorantly deemed “Third World” or slammed as “Shit Holes”. Instead, these two women hope to inspire more global tour operators to encourage their clients to begin choosing a range of undiscovered destinations. Starting with their own heritage nation of Bangladesh while from 2020 onwards, their plan is to roll out tours to more nations in Asia and Africa.
The Lovedesh Press Team, Mobile ++44 7786 727811 + Email media@lovedesh.com
Notes to editors: Lovedesh is an ethical luxury brand created to find solutions to combat, smash modern-day slavery and climate change. By boosting incomes for millions of garment workers and artisans. Since Christmas 2008, when Amber was aged just seven, mother and daughter have been traveling alone, over 10 years to explore and unearth the rich authentic slow travel experiences often left undiscovered by foreigners and tour operators. Using their own money and time, Yasmin & Amber spent years researching the country by connecting with people at the grassroots. Yasmin is now fluent in Sylheti dialect and Bengali. Together the duo began to design their ethical fashion range, using heritage textiles from UK and Bangladesh to help platform, promote and protect artisans skills, under threat from the growth of fast fashion.
