Behind the scenes with #granafriend, Ellen
This is Ellen.
We’ve been friends since 2013, just before Grana began. In fact, she still remembers our first silk product and its exact production date. Who knew?
"Grana really is a special one for me. Like a child, I watched her grow up."
Ellen has lived in the Eastern China city Huzhou for 19 years since she began university and where she’s met her now-husband. Almost as soon as she graduated, she landed herself a job in the textiles industry at our key silk supplier, Huzhou WB Factory. It’s been 15 years and counting in the lakeside town of two million.
In Huzhou, China, a 2,300 year old city known as The City of Silk and as a land of rice and fish.
A big perk to this particular factory is that it’s known for hiring locally, and Ellen is a great example. Born in Wuyi, a small city of Zhejiang province which is known for its hot springs, she’s a mere two hours away from the textile city of Huzhou.
The Eastern Rhine River runs through Huzhou making it the perfect city for a postcard.
You can bet she knows this textile-famous city like the back of her hand. “I know every street of this city. [All the] rivers, bridges, old buildings, delicious Huzhou foods such as zhongsi (粽子)” she prides. But when she’s off duty, you expect to find Ellen tending to garden.
