Artisan Collection
India
Smita Paul discovered the world of handloom while on assignment in India as a freelance journalist. She founded Indigo Handloom to showcase the beautiful fabrics produced by centurie-old weaving practices and help support the weavers who often struggle to make a living wage to provide for their families. Despite a surging Indian economy, weavers, farmers and other members of the rural poor are faced with worsening economic conditions.
Peru
Ayacucho, Peru, was hit hard in the 1980's by the Shining Path terrorist group. After the group was suppressed by the government various NGOs went to Ayacucho to help the women who had been raped and abused. Small artisan groups were formed to create products using ancestral embroidery techniques. Ayacucho is now a peaceful place with artisans enjoying steady employment.
Products
Embroidered Belt
Mali
Delta Survie, located in Mopti, Mali, is a center that provides support services to women who are recovering from obstetric fistula. In Mali, one of the poorest countries of the world, women often don't have access to basic health care. Delta Survie trains the women to produce handcrafts, generating income for them while they recover and develop skills which can be used in the future to help support their families.
Laos
In Lao history, young girls often did not have the opportunity to go to school. Instead, their mothers “home-schooled” them in the invaluable art of weaving. A woman’s “marriage value” was often assessed based on the quality of her weaving. The artisan women of today have a modified version of these values, and their hand woven scarves are symbolic of this rich history of weaving.
Afghanistan
Refugee women living in Pakistan are mostly widows or have husbands who were handicapped during the Afghan war. Due to social constraints of this region, women are not allowed to come out of their houses. Zardozi brings all the material to their homes and collects the finished embroidered pieces with direct payment. These pieces are then stitched by Afghan women tailors and sent to outlets for sale.
Thailand
Thai artisans have been using metallurgy as far back as 1600 BC, as evidenced by hand-wrought iron spearheads, bronze bracelets, and knives in Thai caves. Gianna Driver works with disadvantaged artisans in Thailand and around the world to help provide sustainable opportunities for meaningful work, giving artisans a means to improve their lives and achieve their dreams.
Madagascar
Mar Y Sol works with artisan groups in Madagascar to make their products available in the global marketplace. Mar Y Sol maintains a commitment to using organically tanned leathers and responsibly sourced raw materials. The sale of their products enables families to gain economic independence, preserve traditional craft and promote environmental conservation.
Mozambique
Plagued by a long and violent civil war, Mozambique has seen her country and her people broken to the point of near destruction. Now a free Republic, the people look to their vast forest resources to supply the materials for unique hand crafted goods with designs rooted in their Portuguese past and their modern cultures.
Products
EBONY VESSELS
Nicaragua
Chaka MarketBridge is a fair trade market for high-quality and unique gifts, produced by talented individuals working primarily in Nicaragua. Working with Chaka, these artisans gain access to the markets they need to grow, succeed, support their families, and lift their communities out of poverty.
Products
Serving Bowl & Utensils
Ghana
Phyllis Woods, founder of Tribalinks, has been designing jewelry and home accessories since 1975, when she started making silver and brass hammered earrings. Her design inspirations come from her surroundings both in the African desert and as a swimmer, noticing the blues and greens of the waters around her. She has spent much time in Ghana working with the talented craftsmen who make her jewelry.
Haiti
Patti Carpenter of Rare Resources works with the Cooperative d'Artisanat outside Port au Prince to help support Haitian women working from home, earn fair wages for their craft. Most of the inhabitants of this area live with their impoverished children on less than one US dollar a day. This income helps provides for food and school fees for their children.
Mauritania
Julie and Ibrahima’s story began in 2000 when they met working with the Peace Corps in Mauritania. They believe they can reinvest in the vibrant color and culture from the land that brought them together, by introducing these traditional handmade textiles to a broader audience. Their goal is to use Petel’s profits to create a training program for younger Fulani artists interested in textile art.
Products
Table Runner