Meet the Makers

Kandahar Treasure is a registered NGO in Kandahar, a province in southern Afghanistan, working to empower women artisans by providing employment opportunities both in their home and in Kandahar Treasure's production facility. Artisans are supplied with raw materials (at no cost) and are paid a fair wage for their work, which in turn enables them to provide food, shelter and schooling for their children. Many of the artisans Kandahar Treasure works with are widows managing their household budgets for the first time.

Prokritee is a World Fair Trade Organization member nonprofit providing sustainable employment to women artisans in Bangladesh since 2001. Composed of multiple workshops supporting over 1,500 artisans in rural areas, each specializing in different techniques and materials, Prokritee helps to bring stability and healthier living conditions to families in regions where few income-generating opportunities for women exist. 

Sabahar is a World Fair Trade Organization member social enterprise whose mission is to preserve Ethiopia's ancient weaving and spinning traditions and contribute to its development by providing reliable employment and equitable pay for hundreds of artisans. Sabahar currently employs 50 people at its workshop in Addis Ababa and engages another 100 artisans who spin and weave by hand in their own homes or in cooperatives around the city.

AAKS fosters community development and creates sustainable employment opportunities for local women weavers in Northern Ghana. AAKS products are made from sustainable fibers, including vetiver and raffia, and are crafted with traditional techniques unique to North Africa. In addition to employment, AAKS offers zero-interest loans, empowering women artisans to become financially independent.

Copavic is located in Cantel, Guatemala. What started as an initiative to create sustainable jobs for local artisans has become a worker-owned facility and point of pride in the community, providing artisans with health insurance, fair living wages, and­ ownership of the cooperative. By purchasing land and building their kiln and workspace in Cantel, this small group of artisans continues to take sustainability seriously by reusing recycled glass and honoring their local environment.

Kiej de los Bosques is a registered NGO in rural Guatemala, where women too often find themselves stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty. Kiej de los Bosques aims to end this cycle, by enabling women artisans to share their stories through their work , helping to unite communities from around the globe.

Lucia’s Imports L.L.C is a Fair Trade Federation member partnering with Guatemalan families, artisan groups, and cooperatives to produce quality handicrafts and accessories. Working side by side with Guatemalan artisans to develop a wholesale market for their products enables them to earn a living wage in a region where there are few opportunities to do so.

Mayan Hands is a Fair Trade Federation member working directly with Mayan women weavers, who make up the poorest sector in Guatemalan society, being doubly disadvantaged, as Mayan and as women. Mayan Hands provides resources such as scholarships, school supplies, potable water, and medical support for its artisans, while also creating opportunities for women to continue the 3000-year-old tradition of back-strap loom weaving.

Asha Handicrafts is a World Fair Trade Organization member and social enterprise whose mission is to transform the lives of Indian artisans by building access to the international market for their handcrafted goods. A leader of the fair trade movement in India for over 40 years, "Asha" means “hope” in Sanskrit.

In 1974, when the Mines Advisory Group began to clear unexploded ordinance (ammunition that was fired, thrown, or launched but did not explode) in Laos to make land safe for returning inhabitants, the new metal found was used by artisans to craft original designs. And so Article 22 was born, a social impact brand on a mission to transform weapons into jewelry. Article 22 artisans earn at least five times the local hourly minimum wage, providing them with the disposable income for books, school, fuel and medicine.

Makaua is a women-led cooperative providing dignified, fair and sustainable incomes to women weavers in the hills of Guerrero, Mexico. Their work involves foraging nearby hills for palm leaves, hand-braiding, dyeing and sewing leaf strands together to create beautiful and functional baskets. For Makaua weavers, every step of the basket-making process revolves around preserving traditional techniques and respecting the local environment.

Rose Ann Hall Designs, based in Mexico, is an artisan workshop dedicated to resuscitating the traditional craft of grabado - glass carving. In addition to technical skills training, Rose Ann Hall Designs provides educational and life skills programs to its small cadre of artisans, including several with physical disabilities who had never earned an income before. All of Rose Ann Hall Design's work is done on recycled glass, breathing new life into discarded material and providing dignified work to artisans in a region where skilled jobs at living wages are scarce.

The Association for Craft Producers is a World Fair Trade Organization member in Nepal supporting low-income artisans with design, marketing, and technical services. The Association for Craft Producers blends traditional craft with modern design and offers a flexible program for creative collaboration, providing benefits and programing for their producers' welfare and the conservation of the environment.

While two separate enterprises, Nirjala Craft and Nuptse Craft grew from a single mission launched in 2001. Based in Kathmandu, Nepal, both groups are dedicated to combating urban poverty and supporting skills-training and income-generation programs for crafts women living in and around the Nepal’s capital. Each provides employment for more than 100 Nepali women along with access to education for their children.

Artisan Links is a World Fair Trade Federation member working with Afghan women refugees living in Pakistan. Dedicated to empowering women through artistic expression and economic advancement, Artisan Links encourages women to apply traditional embroidery techniques to contemporary designs, helping preserve a culturally significant Afghan craft while producing accessories and home products with global appeal.

Alivicha

Alivicha employs a community of hand-knitters living in Peru's rural area while providing them access to training in reproductive, political, and economic rights. The organization gives Peruvian women an opportunity to leave the domestic sphere and “build a relationship with the world,” in hopes they can realize their full potential and exercise their human rights as women.

Naguska is a family-run organization employing women knitters from the Peruvian highlands. Naguska prides itself on providing consistent work to hundreds of artisans while offering them the opportunity to supplement their family income from farming by creating hand-knit accessories from locally sourced materials, such as cotton and alpaca wool.

At Peruland [formerly Aptec], a World Fair Trade Organization member, women from all walks of life come together to practice the traditional art of hand knitting, a skill that has been largely lost due to machine manufacturing. Peruland focuses on providing their artisans equal opportunity employment, fair payment, respectful treatment, and access to a transparent supply chain.

Based in Peru, World Fair Trade Federation member Royal Knit creates hand knit accessories from alpaca and other natural fibers. Established as a small workshop, its mission is to provide training programs to teach weaving and sewing skills to single mothers and women victims of domestic abuse.

In 2006, three sisters founded Sumaq Qara with the goal of returning economic opportunity to the women of Ayacucho, Peru. Internally displaced from guerrilla warfare or domestic violence, these women are generally unable to earn a living selling their products without Sumaq Qara’s resources and connections to the global market. Sumaq Qara is a member of Peru Fair Trade.

Few jobs are offered to South Africans with little formal education, but at Netshomi Zen / Streetwires, 120 artisans in Cape Town and Johannesburg earn sustainable incomes through the sale of their wire and bead creations.

Borderline is a fair trade collective made up of over a dozen women’s artisan member groups. Based in Mae Sot along the Thailand-Burma border, Borderline is committed to promoting gender equality, health and safety for women and children, women’s rights, early childhood development and political engagement.

Natural Olivewood is a fair trade enterprise based in Sfax, Tunisia, producing a range of products carved from nonproductive olive wood trees. Woodworking and carving are culturally significant skills that many Tunisians learn at a young age. Each product starts from a full bark-covered branch that is shaped to accentuate the wood’s distinctive pattern.