More Creative Women

Well, I've been back from Ethiopia and Mali for over a week now.  I'm always interested in how quickly I forget the parts of travel that I didn't like (lack of control over my time, sitting in my hotel room one too many nights, not getting things done at my pace) and how much I relive the parts I the trip that I loved.

Here's a few that I keep returning to:

• New product development in Ethiopia (you must come to our new booth, 6308 at the NYIGF to see what we've been working on).  After 7 years, we're getting better at making beautiful things.  Expect to see new tablecloths, scarves, cocktail napkins, pillows and a fabulous silk/cotton throw ... all with an eye to Fall and Holidays. But here's what I remember ... the amazing process of making something by hand.  Each one of the threads (below) is dyed by hand, then, one by one, each thread is tied on the loom by hand, and then woven by hand.  It's an amazing process.

• The beauty of the hand-crocheted shawls made by the woven we work with in Mali.  It was over 100F in Bamako, but the women of this coop sit under the shade of a few leafy trees and create beauty while earning a living. 

• The energy and majesty of the NIger River ... kids swimming, men fishing or shoveling sand from the bottom and carrying it by hand to the shore to make bricks, women doing their laundry.  And in the midst of all this productive activity, we took a boat ride up the Niger to Kalobougou, the pottery island, to see women throwing (and young girls), glazing, and firing utilitarian potter sold throughout Mali.  Another world ...

   

Enough ... a lot of new images and the start of many new products.
Happy Spring ...
Ellen

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[Asics shoes]

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