12 Small Things News

Under my umbrella

I’d like to take this opportunity to celebrate small businesses in my own back yard in San Francisco’s vibrant Mission District. As both a small business owner of 12 Small Things and as a sales representative for Keena, I work with a number of small businesses on Valencia Street, including Aldea Home, Paxton Gate, Serendipity, The Curiosity Shoppe, Ruby, Dog Eared Books and Currents. These stores purchase products from some of the small local companies I represent including Yellow Owl Workshop in the Mission, Austin Press over by the Piers, Glob in Berkeley, Modern Twist in Emeryville and Roost in Sausalito. Both these retailers and wholesalers are trying to make a living, producing products they believe in, hiring local employees and supporting their families.

Therapy

You can imagine how upset I was when my father-in-law called me the first morning of May to ask if any of my stores were vandalized by the protesters gathered in Dolores Park the night before, planning for May Day protests. Apparently a group split off from the Occupy  rally with metal crowbars in tow, and deliberately vandalized some of the key retailers on Valencia including Therapy, Weston Wear, Bar Tartine and other targets including parked cars. Apparently the group was protesting the gentrification of the Mission; really, with these businesses?

Weston Wear

I called Aldea who filled me in on what they knew and said there was already a neighborhood fundraiser started to help the stores who suffered the most damages, mainly Weston Wear. My Post Office clerk, Louise told me she was relieved they had already apprehended one of the culprits. No one I spoke to could come to terms with why Valencia Street and those businesses were targeted. And what results were the protesters hoping to achieve? Was it resentment that these businesses appear successful? Did they want these businesses to be boarded up and shut down like we’ve seen with the recession in so many parts of the city over the past few years? Was it a splinter group trying to make the Occupy movement look bad?

Street Yoga

Nothing could have made me happier than to join hundreds of my neighbors for Sunday Streets to celebrate all the wonderful creative small stores in the Mission, including the ones who had been vandalized just a week before and who were now opened for business. The weather was glorious and families were out in force on foot and bicycles of all shapes and sizes. The fashions were San Francisco fabulous and the activities ranged from cycling to squeeze fresh juice, to planting your own terrarium, to group yoga and music of all kinds including kids shredding rock and roll.

Open for business

I was so happy to see Weston Wear sporting brand new glass windows and Therapy with a grand sidewalk display, both attracting a lot of customers. It made me remember the scene in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, after the Whos’ wake up to find all their presents stolen, they still gather round to give thanks for the day and for one another. That’s how my Mission community makes me feel, thankful for the creativity and inspiration and grateful for all the small businesses that help to support one another.

Nice pants

Laku

Musicians

Skaters

Viracocha

More musicians

Sea of humanity

A gift for Mother’s Day in support of La Casa de las Madres

Frankel Family

Just in time for Mother’s Day, 12 Small Things has launched a new gift collection for Spring 2012, featuring fair trade gifts made by artisans around the world, including San Francisco. The FeltLink Vase Collection is created by San Franciscan resident Kate Frankel, from her home-based Roger & Hebe Studio in Noe Valley. Kate has been making clever gifts for her family and friends over the years, out of the high quality, colorful felt she buys from Germany.

FeltLink at Frankel's 50th

Kate had been planning to sell her gifts online, but it wasn’t until she gave her felt vase holder to me as a hostess gift, that she found a place to launch her collection. Long after the guests left the party, I was still enamored with the bright green felt fabric, hugging three glass vases full of flowers and herbs that Kate had brought me. I really wanted to offer Kate’s product to my customers but needed the gift to be able to give back to the community in some way, which is a requirement for all products offered at 12 Small Things.

I asked Kate if she would consider donating a portion of the proceeds from her sales to a local nonprofit organization. Without any hesitation we both agreed on La Casa de las Madres, the only domestic violence shelter and outreach program in San Francisco that accepts victims 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. La Casa acts boldly to create a community where violence against women and children is not tolerated, through educating and redefining public perceptions about domestic violence.  Their free and confidential services help transform the lives of women, teens, older adults and children, seeking refuge from the cycle of violence. Kate and I felt that donating to La Casa is particularly relevant for Mother’s Day, in support of mothers in the Bay Area and beyond. Give a gift that gives more this Mother’s Day at 12smallthings.com.

Signs of Spring

Driving back from Davis after visiting our oldest daughter, Johanna, I was amazed to see that despite the lack of rain, the blossoms were still unfolding across the orchard trees in the distance, the grass lush green, the cows and calves grazing happily. Throughout dry spells and tsunami anniversaries and spiteful politics and warfare, the tree blossoms nevertheless, still appear every spring, as a kind of reassurance that life goes on. What are we going to do with this new year, already in our fourth month, to show our resilience and make it better than the one before?

Afghanistan tunic

In January I attended the International Gift Fair in New York for my day job as a sales representative with Keena, helping out at the Roost and Chilewich booths and learning more about the new products from our vendors. My last day in New York was reserved for 12 Small Things, where I saw my friends from By Hand Consulting, Karen Gibbs and Colvin English. They were hosting three groups of artisans from different countries, helping introduce them to the various buyers who come to shop the collection of handmade goods from around the world. I met the representative from Zardozi Markets for Afghan Artisan Women, who unable to work in public, are producing beautiful garments from their homes. I ordered these wonderful embroidered black sleeveless tunics with a playful long hem in the back, along with some sheer white shirts, perfect for summer beach bathing suit coverups.

Both Karen and Colvin are undertaking new responsibilities this spring, helping to introduce more international artisan producers to gift show venues, along with their ongoing consultant work, which is keeping them very busy. I really enjoyed partnering with them and Keith Recker from HAND/EYE Magazine on my collections for 12 Small Things last year and will always stay in touch, so appreciative of all the help they have given me. This year, however, I was back on my own in the handmade section of the Javitz Center, with only six hours to order goods before heading back to San Francisco.

Phyllis of Tribalinks

I had a list of artisan representatives I wanted to see, and found a few more surprises that I just couldn’t pass up. First stop was Tribalinks where I ordered sea foam green recycled glass necklaces and bracelets from their founder Phyllis, plus these fabulous gold hammered earrings that are a staple this season. Moving just across the aisle to Bamboula I ordered  woven tote bags from owner Jasperdean, along with recycled glass chandeliers artisans are creating in Kenya in collaboration with Tribalinks. I also ordered linens from Ellen Dorsch of Creative Women. She works with women in Ethiopia to produce the most beautiful handwoven cotton towels, table linens and scarves. I bought table linens and hand towels in white with blue stripes that feel very classic French bistro, perfect for summer picnics.

Patti Carpenter

Stopping by the Aid to Artisans booth is like returning home each time I visit. In addition to saying hi to Alden Smith and Colleen Pendleton, I saw my friend Patti Carpenter who has been working with women in Haiti to produce adorable baby doll cotton nighties for women as well as lovely linen aprons. Both products use this special “Passe Plat” flat stitch that renders the designs with detail and precision. Patti looked very stylish having just cut off her long hair and was so excited about Oprah’s fashion director wanting to feature her in their magazine. Not sure she made the final cut, but it was great to see her doing so well and producing such beautiful products.

Massai artisans

Another product that I am happy to offer is from the Leakey Collection founded by Phillip and Katy Leakey to help the Massai women of Kenya. The Leakeys created a jewelry business to help support their Kenyan community who were suffering from a 2001 draught that killed most of their livestock. Using the native grasses, the Massai women harvest, cut and dye grass beads into a wide spectrum of colors and then string them into necklaces and bracelets. I purchased their Earth Day bead collections that can be worn wrapped as multiple bracelets, or as loose strands for a necklace.

Senegal artisan

One of the last booths I visited before running out of time was Leslie Mittelberg’s Swahili Imports. I had been eyeing the wonderful large baskets she imports from Senegal. Leslie works with the Wolof women there who harvest cattail stalks and weave them with strips of white plastic recycled from worn prayer mats. I feel as if there’s some spiritual elements woven into these terrific looking pieces. I bought the large basket with handles which will look great with fresh summer fruit, a circular serving tray plus a great hamper that I’d like to keep for my bedroom.

Olivia and Johanna

I am so excited about this new collection launching this weekend of Passover and Easter; a very appropriate time for new beginnings. Two songs I heard this week on my new favorite radio station, The Loft on Sirus XM really hit home. The first was Joni Mitchell’s The Circle Game, sung by Tom Rush, tracing a child’s journeys through the seasons from boy to man. The second was Secret Gardens of the Heart sung by Judy Collins about aging and the passing of time. Both songs brought me back to the ages of my daughters now; “But most of all it is me who have changed and yet still I’m the same… I see myself through the eyes of the child that was me.” Happy Spring!  I hope you enjoy all it brings, with more opportunities to do better, give of oneself to others and stop and smell the blossoms, once again.

There is still time left to get thoughtful, unique, handmade gifts for the holidays. 12 Small Things is offering a collection of fair trade, hand-made gifts that gift back, by helping to support artisan communities in need around the world. 12 Small Things, along with By Hand Consulting and HAND/EYE Magazine has curated a collection of gifts from skillful artisans preserving cultural craft techniques amidst challenging social, economic and political conditions. This week we are showcasing great gifts from Africa and Haiti.

Artist Cedi in Ghana

Our glass shell necklace is made by artisans in Ghana who use recycled glass and shells to make this beautiful beaded necklace. The process involves funneling recycled glass into clay molds and firing them in a wood-burning kiln. The bead-makers make the process look easy, but it takes years of apprenticeship and practice to be recognized as an accomplished artisan. The Krobo people are known for their beads and Cedi is one of the best-known bead-makers in Ghana, with a large workshop and several employees, selling both locally and internationally.

Mozambique artisan

From Mozambique we have extraordinarily carved ebony wood vessels from Outpost Original. Crafted from sustainably sourced mpingo wood by artisans living in Mozambique’s vast woodlands, these sophisticated storage jars are both useful and beautiful. Mpingo is the Kiswahili word for the dark hardwood also known as African black wood or Mozambican ebony, and grows prolifically in Mozambique’s forests. The unique lids of these stylish lathe-turned jars are a chance for the carvers to show off their skills.

Friend with artist George Valris

For an extra special one-of-a-kind holiday gift, 12 Small Things is proud to be able to offer Haitian vodou flags by the artist George Valris. Haiti’s Ceremonial Banners, or Vodou Flags, are tapestries of sequins and beads trimmed with a satin backing. The flags represent various spirits, or lwa, of Vodou, based on religious beliefs and practices slaves brought with them from West Africa. Vodou flags, exhibited in ceremonies, serve to call down particular spirits who help practitioners with their personal problems and aspirations. Because slaves were forbidden from practicing Vodou, they also adopted Catholic saints to represent the various spirits of love, water, trees, crops, etc. We are happy to be able to bring these and other thoughtful, handmade gifts to you at 12 Small Things.

Happy holidays! Laurie

As the newspapers and television stations continue their media blitz of ads for holiday gifts from department stores and malls, 12 Small Things provides a welcome alternative, showcasing handmade gifts from artisans around the world. 12 Small Things, along with By Hand Consulting and HAND/EYE Magazine has curated a collection of great small gifts from skillful artisans preserving cultural craft techniques amidst challenging social, economic and political conditions. This week we are showcasing great gifts from Asia.

Tara Projects artisan in India

Our luminous amber glass jewelry, is made by artisans with the Tara Projects in India. The Tara Projects has been working since the early 1970s to fight exploitation and poverty, and for the protection of artisans against social injustices. Over the years, they have extended their services to reach nearly 1,000 artisans in several states in India. The Tara Projects provide support in the production and marketing of handcrafts based on fair trade principles, while also addressing needs of grassroots craftspeople. They fund a number of community projects such as health programs, schools, training centers, and literacy programs, impacting the lives of hundreds of children and adults in India.

Craft Link artisan in Vietnam

Another popular gift this season is our hand-dyed crinkle silk scarf, created by artisans with Craft Link in Vietnam, who twist the fabric while it dries. Working closely with the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi, Craft Link helps preserve traditional craft skills such as weaving and embroidery of the tribal groups. About 10% of the population of Vietnam is comprised of ethnic hill tribe peoples living in rural mountainous areas who have little access to markets. Craft Link, a non-profit organization, works to assist small Vietnamese craft producers find market opportunities and promotes awareness of ethnic minority crafts and culture. Craft Link also provides marketing, design, and management advice to other disadvantaged groups, like street children and people with disabilities.

Mitra Bali artisan in Indonesia

The third gift we’re featuring this week is a generous bowl and plate set, created by artisans in Indonesia working with the Mitra Bali Foundation. Designed in collaboration with Keith Recker of HAND/EYE Magazine, the pieces are made of slip-cast ceramic, with the wave detail added by artisans in the remote village of Pejaten, Bali. A non-governmental, non-profit organization, the Mitra Bali Foundation in Indonesia, acts as a market and export facilitator for small craft producers. These small producers represent the diverse Balinese culture that attracts tourism to the area, but because they live in more remote areas and work on a small scale, haven’t benefited by the economic influx of the tourism industry. We are happy to be able to bring these and other thoughtful, handmade gifts to you at 12smallthings.com. Up next, great small gifts from Africa!

With the holidays just around the corner, 12 Small Things, along with By Hand Consulting and HAND/EYE Magazine has curated a collection of great small gifts from around the world for thoughtful gift-giving this season. All the products are handmade by skillful artisans preserving cultural craft techniques amidst challenging social, economic and political conditions.

La Casa Guatemala

A number of gifts in the collection are from Guatemala, imported by La Casa Guatemala. La Casa was founded as a retail store in Guatemala City in 1994, selling fine textiles, colonial-style antique furniture, and folk art relating to the everyday life of the indigenous Mayan population. They have exported an increasingly wide range of Guatemalan handcrafted merchandise since 1995, and are committed to generating sustainable, optimum income-producing crafts, including new opportunities for existing artisan groups, and training for incipient groups.

Guatemalan women

Among their most unique products are the Indigo Tote and Weekend Bags, made from repurposed traditional fabric used for skirts worn by Guatemalan women. The indigo-colored fabric is woven by men on foot looms in the area of Sacatepequez. The fabric is then stitched together by women in lengthwise panels with multicolored thread embroidery for added embellishment. Each tote and weekend bag is made from vintage cloth that varies slightly along with the colorful hand embroidery, and is trimmed in fine leather.

Indigo dyers Guatemala

Another great gift from Guatemala is La Casa’s Indigo Cotton Scarf. The soft, loosely woven cotton scarves are dyed by a Tzutuhil Maya women’s cooperative in San Juan La Laguna on the edge of Lake Atitlan. Indigo was an extremely important dye for Mayans throughout the period of the Spanish Colony, but indigo production virtually disappeared in Guatemala during the 20th century. The indigo used for these scarves represents an effort to reintroduce traditional materials and techniques to Mayan artisans.

Peru embroiderers

A third great gift featured this week is an embroidered belt from Peru imported by Jenny Krauss. The beautiful, floral pattern wool belts are hand-made by women’s cooperatives in Ayacucho, Peru, a region hit hard in the 1980′s by the Shining Path terrorist group. After the group was suppressed in the 1990′s, small artisan groups were formed to help women generate income by creating products using ancestral embroidery techniques. Each belt is a one-of-a-kind work of art, using a contemporary take on traditional Andean techniques. Find these great gifts and more at www.12smallthings.com. Next, Great Gifts from Asia.

Times Square

Just when you’re not sure how everything is going to come together, it does, almost magically. Such was the case when I was in New York for the International Gift Fair, for my job as a sales representative with Keena and for my website 12 Small Things. I was lucky to be able to share a hotel room near Times Square with my friend and merchandise advisor, Karen Gibbs from By Hand Consulting. My first two days there I had worked with two of our Keena vendors, first in the Roost booth at the Piers and then at the Chilewich booth at the Javitz Center.

God fountain

Ready to spend my third day visiting many of of our other vendor’s booths, I was on my way walking to the Javitz Center on one of the beautiful mornings when it wasn’t raining, and stopped to take a picture of a wall fountain with my phone. Good thing I did, maybe it was a premonition, but I found a message from my good friend and now customer Darcy Lee of Heartfelt. We decided to meet for lunch at the gift show and as we ate our overpriced hotdogs and salads, she convinced me to play hooky and go downtown with her to shop for nick nacks at her favorite-finds stores.

Umbrella ceiling

Darcy and I hopped in a cab that brought us somewhere in the mercantile district, I don’t know where, but it was door-to-door shops filled with hair clips, or polyester scarves or floppy hats or paper umbrellas; all little specialty wholesale shops selling mass-produced stuff. Definitely not your hand-made, one-at-a-time, fair trade artisan products, no way. We were in this one store which sold nothing but hair accessories and as Darcy was busy gathering items for her store, I walked around timidly, uncertain how I felt about all these inexpensive little clips and hair ties. As I walked around the corner of one aisle, I heard opera playing softly out of a radio perched on a shelf above my head. I looked up and saw a long row of fabric floral hair clips cascading down toward me as the singer’s aria wafted over the store.

Hair clip

Maybe it was the music, or maybe it was my mood, or maybe it was the hair clip that looked like a gardenia from my wedding bouquet, but in that moment, I got it. I made peace with my love/hate relationship with “stuff”. One can find beauty in the simplest of things, whether made by hand or machine. There are no rules, it all counts, and should be accounted for. The hair clip is being made by some factory in Asia where the employees are probably grateful for the work and is affordable for a young woman to purchase who is probably equally appreciative. Or maybe not. Maybe it just is what it is. Or maybe it’s beauty is better revealed in the abstraction of a cell phone photo. I couldn’t be certain what it was, but I realized the moment was a turning point for me. The self-selecting blinders were off, everything was fair game. Kind of overwhelming and liberating all at once.

Fascinator

I had to lighten up. I found Darcy talking with a Hasidic Jewish man about whether it was OK for women to shake his hand after a business transaction. He wouldn’t budge on his beliefs, although Darcy gave a good argument, but he did allow us to put a feather hair clip on his hat. No photos either, were permitted. I however, in my newly liberated state of mind, tried on multiple hair clips and fascinators, feeling a little like Camilla Parker Bowles and asked Darcy to capture the moment for posterity. I bought my daughters some mink hair ties before we left the shop and hopped on a cross town bus just as the rain started up again, grateful I’d played hooky and learned so much that day.

Moms at JCC

From angels in February to suddenly summer and I’m still not sure where the time went. Between Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day 12 Small Things was busy showcasing hand-made hearts from Haiti, Kenya and Guatemala along with recycled glass necklaces from Ghana and jewelry from the forests of Colombia. To supplement website sales, I joined forces with friends for a three-way trunk show of handmade products at the Apollo Cafe and also made appearances at a couple of Appel and Frank shopping events including Babes and Babies at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center. I don’t remember when I’ve ever seen so many pregnant and young mothers in one place before.

In between shows and sales I picked up some part-time work with Paul Terry and Associates, my teacher from The Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center where I attended the business planning classes almost two years ago. I enjoyed learning about fellow student’s business plans for opening new restaurants and clothing stores in and around San Francisco and remembered when 12 Small Things was just an idea on paper not that long ago. Partnering with By Hand Consulting and Hand/Eye Magazine was a great asset for 12 Small Things this past year, but I still needed a full-time day job to make ends meet.

While attending a party at The Liberty Cafe for my good friend Darcy Lee, the owner of Heartfelt, to thank her for her work on behalf or the Bernal Height’s merchant community, I met a mutual friend, Catharine Keena. I had first met Catharine when I was considering starting 12 Small Things more than five years ago, and we have kept in touch ever since, saying hi at gift trade shows. One conversation led to another and I am now happy to be working with Catharine for her manufacturer’s representative company Keena. Keena represents 30 different product lines featuring tabletop, decorative accessories, personal care and stationary to retailers west of the Rockies. And I feel very lucky to have as my sales territory, my own back yard of the Mission, Bayview, Potrero Hill and thankfully Bernal Heights.

Andrew and Dana of Teroforma

My first week of working with Keena took me to the Stationary and Furniture shows in New York. It was great to be back in the hustle and bustle of the city and I saw some beautiful product design and met many interesting people with unique visions. One of the lines we represent, Teroforma, had a display of custom barware at the furniture show, over which was a sign that read, “Work with Good People. Make Good Things.” I couldn’t agree more. One exhibitor in particular caught my attention, Arxe , from Spain, featuring hand-crafted furniture and textiles made of recovered old industrial materials and antique linen. Following the trend of less is more and embracing recycled resources, this was premium product to lust after, having been previously worn and made better by age.

candy wrapper dresses

Landing back in San Francisco, I’m always happy to be greeted by the SFO Museum in the United terminal, this time featuring “Second Chances“, folk art made from recycled remnants. As the show’s curator explains, ‘industrial development and mass production supplies an ever-increasing quantity of goods. Almost as quickly as new products are made, old products are discarded, producing massive amounts of salvageable materials, which become raw material for the folk recycler—limited only by his or her imagination. In the words of artist Earl Simmons, from Bovina, Mississippi, “Everything I look at, I say, ‘I should be able to make something out of that.’ It’s like giving it new life, giving it a second chance in life.”

Liv, Rob and Jo

As the days of summer begin, I am grateful to be connected to such a creative community, involved in producing and selling product that resonates with the conviction of the maker and the interests of the customer. A push and pull, a give and take, and a giving back, all entangled in a life cycle that keeps us waking up in the morning to accomplish the next small thing, that could be big. In the midst of it all, let’s not forget to enjoy the seasons as they rush by, and those who make it all worthwhile. Happy summer!