s t o r y

71bay was started out of love. 

for love.  

love for a small country on the immense stretch of this earth. bangladesh. for it’s people, their resilience, their voices. for all the odds they overcome daily and, for how they push forward. teaching us about strength. and, integrity. 

71bay combines the love for design and, of natural, sustainable materials, to partner with some amazing organizations who work to enable change, growth and, security. to improve. to help heads to be held up high and, to materialize some dreams. and, futures. 

our artisans are at the heart of 71bay. they interpret from paper to bring our vision to life. the majority are women, working from home & around the daily needs of young families. or sometimes, grand children. 

it takes a village. 

made by hand, from start to finish, no two items are exactly the same. ever. therein lies the joy of owning something that is hand made – it is a narrative of a life. of a time. with a story in each stitch and weave. and, one we take great pride in.  

to be conscious; in both thought and action. 

to acknowledge that everything is to have an impact. awareness is at the core of 71bay and hence, it is important for us to be sustainable in process. raw materials farmed in remote rural areas use age-old techniques that are gentle on the earth. where possible we will use reclaimed and recycled materials. 

to touch the ground lightly. 

as a designer, to be able to enable development through design – it is a privilege. to know that each design, each order placed and, each purchase, can cause ripples. of change. hope. encouragement. life.  

jute and kantha form the base of our designs and are chosen with great consciousness. the love of the craft and for slow, deliberate living, has given birth to 71bay.  

71bay was founded by shehreen, who has always been drawn to the calm and the chaos of the fast-developing country that is bangladesh - the simplicity that is the lives of hard working traditional villagers and the contrasting hustle-and-bustle of the lives of (equally hard working) city-dwellers. 

this eventually led her to pursue her degree in architecture where she drew inspiration from the rural and urban scenes - and most of all, from the people of bangladesh. opportunities to travel locally for work brought her in contact with people from different regions of the country and, was exposed to their crafts and lives, which remain intertwined. 

71bay was born possibly more than ten-years ago in her mind - and, only as a dream. her move to melbourne in 2013 to join her husband, flying in at eight+ month pregnant with their first child, was the start of an exciting adventure for this family. their son was born just a month after the big move, and just ten-months after their big, fat bengali wedding. 

the first few years were spent discovering each other as parents, partners and, family while also discovering the silent quirks of melbourne and the hidden gems in regional victoria. wrapped in a baby sling and carrying a small household under the pram and in the car - she fell in love with australia. 

like an old lover however, bangladesh seemed to call out to her each day, to remind of a time long gone but never quite forgotten. shehreen was quick to acknowledge that the dull, yet constant feelings of heartache, would possibly never quite go away. so in the midst of exciting, new experiences - of amazing fulfilment and yet a void residing; of the heart being full but something unexplainable, still amiss; in between trips back to the land of familiar sights, sounds, smells - and, beloved faces, whilst building a family and life, in this stunning new country, she decided that you can never really be ready - to have a child or, to follow your dream.  

while on maternity leave in 2022, 71bay was re-embraced as the middle child - a life's purpose, holding true to everything shehreen strives for and longs to be a part of. this is design for development, where hope is almost tangible within strands of natural fibres and fabrics. 

we thank you for coming on this journey with us.