One World Market Earth Day Celebration & A Winner

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our recycling game this week! We were so excited to read everyone’s comments as the week progressed!

Just as we predicted, One World Market Facebook Friends are incredibly smart! Nearly every guess was correct! And those that weren’t were still great ideas! Purse made of bacon? Yum!

Before we announce the winner of the week and the recipient of a $50 OWM Gift Card, let’s review the answers!

Monday’s Recycled Item:

This is in fact three different coiled bracelets handmade in Uganda out of recycled magazine pages! Each bead starts as a long strip of paper, which is then rolled, glued, and lacquered.

Simple and yet incredibly beautiful! We carry paper bead jewelry in a WIDE RANGE of colors, styles, and lengths!

Next up, Tuesday’s Item, and what seemed to be the easiest guess of the week:

Handmade in India, this handbag is made entirely of old seatbelts! So many of you guessed this bag correctly!

Want to see the artisans in action? Check out this short video, less than 2 minutes long, to see a seatbelt purse being made!

Wednesday’s Item was another purse, but instead of seatbelts…

Conserve artisans used recycled denim and rubber from the inner tubes of tires! The artisans that make this bag are the same artisans featured in the video above!

Conserve makes ALL of their items from recycled materials, helping India cut down on their enormous issues with waste.

Thursday’s item, a friendly rhino from Kenya, may have been a little bit obvious:

 

meaning that his Coca-Cola cans were showing! Made from recycled soda cans, this friendly fellow is 100% recycled. A few of you even guessed what his accents were: recycled telephone wire. Great job!

Early this morning, OWM volunteers carefully copied down everyone’s name who guessed, giving double entries to those who shared the game with their Facebook friends. Our winner was chosen by random drawing:

Jennifer Smith

Congratulations Jennifer!

Stop by One World Market, your Fair Trade, non-profit on Ninth Street in Durham to claim your gift card!

And thank you to everyone for playing! Be sure to join us this Saturday, April 20th from 12noon to 3pm as we celebrate Earth Day!

You can even try your hand at making your own paper bead bracelet or keychain!

Fashion Trend: Layering Bracelets

It’s no secret that we love jewelry here at One World Market!

What’s not to love when you’re able to wear beautiful pieces that also help alleviate poverty in a developing country!?

A fashion trend that we’ve been following this summer is the “layering” look. And with unique, handmade bracelets, we love the looks you can achieve – all while supporting Fair Trade!

All bracelets handmade from recycled paper in Uganda by Jinja Fair Traders.

Top three bracelets are hand-carved tagua nut from Ecuador;

the bottom bracelet is woven cotton from Unique Batik in Guatemala.

Show your Olympic Spirit with

(from top to bottom) a beaded bracelet from Kenya and bangles from India.

Layer on a wooden and wax thread bracelet from Thailand with

a woven cotton bracelet from Guatemala.

Let your wrist sparkle with layers inspired by grass, earth,

and water in bracelets handmade in Guatemala from Unique Batik.

Simple beaded bracelets handmade in Nepal in shades of blue and green.

 

Come by the store and see hundreds of other options and let us know which combination you like best!

Help not only the Artisan, but the Community!

We’ve had SO much fun in the store today!

One of our favorite people, Stacey Ferguson of Jinja Fair Trade, stopped in and refilled the store with her beautiful products!

Stacey works with artisans in Uganda, India, and Kenya. One of staff person April’s personal favorites can be seen above and below:

Necklaces made from recycled paper! We LOVE all the juicy colors in the paper beads, and they really make an outfit pop! Plus, they not only support the women, but truly the entire community.

Stacey tells us more:

Working out of their homes in Jinja and Kampala, the Ugandan artisans are able to take care of their children and home while they roll colorful paper strips, cut from magazines and poster paper, into beads. Eventually the beads are creatively strung into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, ornaments, and more.  Many of the women lovingly care for AIDS orphans along with their own children. Some of the women are sick with the HIV virus. All are striving to better their lives. By working their craft, they are able to make a living wage, which helps pay for medicine, food, transportation and school fees.

Truly a great product to support!

Stacey also restocked our dwindling headband supply, and brought more recycled cards from Kenya.

We also got in our shipment from Nepal today and we are FINALLY restocked on Felted Potholders!

These make a great gift, and we sold out in early December. We are so excited to have these in again. Just like the paper bead necklaces, these potholders come in so many fun colors! AND yes, they really do work!

Not only do these potholders support the women artisans in Nepal who make them, but they also help send young girls in Nepal to school.

Our vendor for this product, Ganesh Himal, tells us more about their school program:

Even public schools cost money in Nepal and producers often have to pull their children out of school because they can’t afford the fees. Usually it is the girl children who are pulled out first because families will look to their long term care by their boy children. In an effort to encourage producers to keep their girls in school Ganesh Himal has given an annual contribution since 1990 to the Association for Craft Producers “Girl Child Education Fund”.  This producer benefit program was set up by ACP to provide a monthly scholarship allowance to producers who keep their daughters in school for at least four consecutive years. As the program has grown ACP has been able to give the same allowance to some of the producers boys as well.

This year ACP was able give scholarships to 85 children from ages 6-17 years old.  In April they invited the students to come and see the workshop at ACP and participate in some of the craft activities that their mother’s do such as blockprinting.  The purpose of the program was to familiarize the children with ACP, its work and help them learn about Fair Trade.  The children were given a tour of ACP and an explanation of the work they do.  The three outstanding scholarship students also received a prize and special recognition from Meera Bhattarai, the Executive Director of ACP.

Ganesh Himal Trading has been proud to help this girl child education fund prosper and be successful.

Imagine that! You’re not only supporting the craftswoman, but you’re giving the opportunity of an education to a young girl who may not have that otherwise.

Yes! We love FAIR TRADE!!