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Products
Meet the Producers
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Fundacion Solidaridad
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Fundacion Solidaridad began in 1974 as a part of the Cooperation Committee for Peace in Chile, which supported the production and sale of handicrafts made by political prisoners detained in prisons and detention camps. By 1976, the organization was supporting hundreds of community groups from the poorest areas of Santiago, including womens organizations, youth groups, indigenous groups, young artists with learning disabilities, and family microbusinesses. New and original handicrafts were invented as a result of the ingenuity and creativity of the local people, many of them made from recycled waste products. By increasing earnings, market insertion and social participation, the Fundacion helps position artisans to overcome poverty and improve their quality of life by producing handicrafts and non-industrial objects in autonomous workshops and microbusinesses.
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APTEC Peru
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APTEC PERU is an organization of producer artisans that offers a variety of handmade products made from many materials including clay and gourds. Learning the art of craftmaking from their parents, the artisans worked for many years for companies but now design and create the products themselves.
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Bridge of Hope
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Bridge of Hope ia a network made up of 14 community groups, churches and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who believe that, in this era of globalization, it is important to work on the international level as well as local to have a real impact on the policies which define the context within which poor and marginalized people live.
Bridge of Hope works to strengthen the capacities of local and participating institutions to work with base communities while respecting human dignity through exercising fair democratic business practices.
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Caribbean Craft
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Founded in 1990 by a multinational group of young entrepreneurs, Caribbean Craft —formerly known as Drexco—promotes employment in Haiti by training unskilled - but often highly gifted - craftspeople, and by assisting the independent artisans through the introduction of new designs and new market outlets. Unemployment in Haiti, the poorest country of the American hemisphere, is variously estimated at between 60 and 80%.
The organization has gone through rough times during the past years, marked by political troubles and economic difficulties including a 3-year long embargo on all Haitian exports. Drexco saw in 1997 its premises totally ransacked and then destroyed during gang violence. Relocated in a higher-security industrial park, the organization currently employs 400 artisans either as salaried employees or outside contractors, with roughly equal numbers of men and women.
Caribbean Craft’s specialty is the brightly colored, artistically hand-painted home décor objects, which can be purely decorative, such as wall hangings , or consist of objects useful in the home, like switch plates and magnets. The natural artistic talents of the Haitians are well known, and many of these hand-painted pieces are truly works of art.
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Comparte
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COMPARTE (Comercializadora de Productos Artesanales Exportables) is a non-profit organization that exports Chilean handicrafts around the world. As members of IFAT, Comparte's mission is to improve the standard of living for owners and employees of Chilean handicraft workshops, by promoting and exporting various handmade products of the highest quality, while supporting these same artisans through technical and product development assistance programs. Purchasing COMPARTE products helps improve the living conditions of their artisans and craftsmen by paying fair prices and stimulating justice in the workplace of the developing world.
The artisans often work from their homes. In some cases adult children work alongside their parents while younger children attend school. Comparte products include enameled copper earrings; fused glass earrings pendants and bracelets; sterling silver earrings; wood articulated pens, fish, snakes and dinosaurs; fused glass plates and ceramic ocarinas.
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Enterprising Kitchen
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The Enterprising Kitchen The Enterprising Kitchen (TEK), a nonprofit social enterprise, provides workforce development and support services to women who are working toward self-sufficiency and economic independence. Within the context of a business where we manufacture natural soaps and spa products, under the brand name Choices from The Enterprising Kitchen, women receive intensive workforce preparation and skills development including: paid employment, work and life skills training, individualized career planning, high school equivalency preparation, technology training, financial planning and a variety of other support services. Located in Chicago, our enterprise enables lower-income women who have been unemployed and underemployed to maximize their individual potential and move into sustainable employment after 6-12 months. The Enterprising Kitchen was founded in 1996 and in 2005 relocated to a larger, more efficient training and production facility located in Chicago's Ravenswood industrial corridor. .
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Comunidad Wiñay
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Operating since 1988, Comunidad Wiñay-- a collective of producer associations in Cochabamba, Bolivia -- provides employment for women in the community and education for their children. In addition to paying sustainable wages and offering a safe working environment, the organization operates a daycare, which provides health care, education, and meals for the children of its employees.
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Siwok
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In Northern Argentina, an area that consists of small tribes and villages, there are poor Wichi Indian communities. In the past, the members of these communities survived through hunting, fishing, and gathering forest fruits. With the encroachment of sugar cane estates, deforestation, and the change in the economy, meeting basic needs and preserving the Wichi culture has become increasingly difficult. Siwok was formed to help the Wichi Indians us their natural talents and resources to adjust to the changes in their environment. Long known for their carving, the Wichi people now market their products through Siwok, which pays a fair price for the products and invests in the local community, through not only by providing a sustainable income but by encouraging education for the children and providing access to health care.
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Eugene Jacques
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We met Eugene Jacques in Croix des Bouquets, an area of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti known for artisans who make oil drum art. The constant hammering from the sheds in the area led us to beautiful metalwork, with each stop offering new designs.
Eugene’s shed was tucked behind several others and yielded unique three-dimensional masks with cogs and bicycle chains for earrings. Each piece is a work of art and signed with “Eugene”.
The Diaspora of Haitians has spread the designs and skills of Oil Drum art throughout the Caribbean but the art is truly Haitian. Old oil drums are no longer readily available and are imported into Haiti by container and sold to the artisans. Even though cheaper, more readily available steel sheets could be used, artisans rely on the used drums for the patina in their art.
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Fundacion Silataj
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Fundacion Silataj works with 26 aboriginal communities from the Argentina provinces of Salta, Formosa, Jujuy and Catamarca. The remaining population of the Wichi ethnic group is sparsely distributed in communities in these provinces.
Women weave chaguar fiber dyed with roots, fruits or leaves. Men carve palo santo wood, utilizing dried branches or fallen trees that they collect in the forest. Most Wichi communities still subsist by fishing, hunting, and gathering.
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JustifyThat .com
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Justify That clothing is clothing that makes a statement. The statement is more than just a screen print, it's a philosophy. Each shirt shares the values of the message. Justify That is a brand name of Global Crafts our parent organization.
All Justify That clothing is 100% organic cotton, printed with waterbased inks. 100% true to the philosophy.The Tee's come with an indepth information tag. Thank you for caring!
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Marilyn Anderson
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Marilyn Anderson produces art and publications and co-directs the Pro Arte Maya educational project for Maya children in Guatemala. Through the Pro Arte Maya project, Maya/Spanish coloring books and educational materials are distributed in Guatemala. The goal is to affirm and celebrate the cultural importance of their arts and crafts and to increase consciousness and knowledge among those reached by the work. Marilyn is a member of the Fair Trade Federation. Through her art and publications she seeks to educate the public about the cultural dimension of fair traded arts and crafts sold in the North America and elsewhere.
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Moro Baruk
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Moro Baruk is a large man in a small country. Born in Egypt, Moro studied design in Italy, emigrated to New York, and moved to Haiti in 1983. Seeing the need for sustainable employment in the town of Jacmel, Moro opened a workshop to create handicrafts. Employing 25 craftspeople, Moro’s workshop creates bold wood and papier maché pieces, that almost overshadow the gregariousness of the designer. Moro’s faith, which led him to Haiti in the first place, plays a strong role in his fair and ethical business practices.
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Maya Traditions
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Maya Traditions is a fair-trade producer based in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. For more than ten years Maya Traditions has worked with indigenous weavers in the highlands of Guatemala. Its mission is to support weaving groups and small family businesses through providing consistent income, as well as health and education projects.
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MYO Accessories
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MYO Accessories is a company aware of poverty, especially among indigenous groups in Mexico where the company is located. MYO was established to help empower craftspeople live better lives by employing mostly women to make their products, such as the candy wrapper purses.
In addition to offering these women employment, MYO give them the opportunity to take the materials to their homes so they can better care for their families while they work, helping to improve the quality of their lives.
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Sweetwater Coffee
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