Grassroots empowerment with design in a community of practice in Turkey

This study is about developing novel ideas for packaging and branding of locally bottled tomatoes, which is a traditional food preparation craft of women in western Turkey. In this region preparing fresh tomato preserve for private consumption is an annual and seasonal practice made in summer as a preparation for winter. One of the towns famous for this craft is Salihli where approximately 155,000 people live. Located in the western Aegean region of Turkey, Mediterranean climate prevails in Salihli making it an agriculture town. A group of women in Salihli requested our assistance as product designers to prepare their products for selling in contemporary markets. The participants of our research had entrepreneurial motivation. Adopting a bottom-up approach, we explored how new design ideas emerged in a group when working with professional designers in two workshops. The research emphasizes co-creation and learning self-innovation as a sociocultural practice defined as situated learning.