Creative Women

Still thinking about the NYIGF ...

It's been a few weeks and I've still got the NYIGF on my mind.  Yes, we still don't have all the Blue Striped Napkins and tablecloths that have been ordered (if anyone has advice on how to keep inventory, please be in touch), but I've decided to think about the more pleasant parts of the show and this business.  So, for the next few blogs I want to tell you about some of the people I met at the show and things they have "turned me on to".  

To start, if I didn't own Creative Women, I probably would never learned about Edna Lewis, the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking.  But thanks to Angela Hederman, who ordered 13 Striped Napkins for her friend Scott Peacock (another grand name in southern cooking), I now have watched a fascinating video about Edna and her influence on cooks, especially Scott.

About.com described Edna this way, "A tall, commanding woman, Edna Lewis was also a giant in the culinary world as well as in life. The granddaughter of freed slaves, Edna would grow up to be a great chef, culinary ambassador, and caretaker of genuine Southern cooking. She would inspire a generation of young chefs and ensure that the traditional folkways of the South would not be forgotten. More than a skilled cook, Edna Lewis touched the lives of those around her with grace and the beauty of life. She will be deeply missed."

So many women have made a difference; Edna definitely is one of them. I seem to be meeting a lot of them along the way ... Creative Women all over the world.  And, I just thought that I'd learn more about business when I started Creative Women.

 

Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis

Creative women at the NYIGF, terrific experience

Just back from the NYIGF (well I took a few days off in NY to see family and move at my own pace, rather than the show's pace).  Definitely our best show ... great location, good customers who I really enjoy seeing, and a chance to see the friends we've developed among the other exhibitors over the years. 

I used to be so nervous before each show.  Now I'm a bit more confident that our booth will hold its own among all the others in the Hand-made section.  And the press seemed to agree ... HandEye,an exciting and elegant on-line and print magazine featured us during the show.  And otto included Creative Women on their site during the show, with a close up of our booth.  Good press is priceless!

In photos, our booth seems to look like a collection of unrelated textiles, rather than the story I try to create.  But people ooh and aaahed; I'm happy.  Take a look at our site, if this photo doesn't move you.

 

Nice to be back in Vermont,

Ellen

Fair Trade, why so complicated?

Did you know that October is Fair Trade month?  Have you seen all the articles about Fair Trade out there? Yet it seems most of the people I know still are confused about Fair Trade.  May be there are too many organizations that have fair trade in their titles, or may be everything that is being sold is either labeled fair trade or green or sustainable.  Do they all mean the same thing?

Ok ... here's what Fair Trade means to me at Creative Women:

Dyer's daughter, after school at Sabahar, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

• working with businesses that support women, make it possible for them to get jobs, move ahead in their jobs, even bring their kids to work now and then;
• good working conditions; i.e, weavers should have enough light, no one should be exposed to toxic chemicals;
• decent benefits and working hours;
• decent pay;
• a commitment on the part of management and owners, and workers, to tackling the difficult issues in the workplace; everything won't be changed overnight.

That's how I define it ... maybe a bit pie-in-the-sky.  But it makes it easier when I am looking for new producers.  If they share these values with me, I want to work with them.  And, I suspect this makes Creative Women more attractive to our customers.

Expanding My Reading List

Reading Ellen's last post, I was thinking how my inbox has changed since I came to work here. Some of the items I now read regularly have to do with Fair Trade and world events, but the ones that I really look forward to involve color, design--and, of course, textiles. Beyond the emails, I now anticipate the arrival in our office of the magazines that Ellen brings in to refer to as we discuss colors and designs for new products.

Most of them I've never seen before, although a couple of them have now become favorites. Selvedge is a particularly lovely example: the photographs are beautiful, rich, and well-produced. It's a pleasure to page through the magazine just to see how it's put together, regardless of the content (which is also well-chosen, just so we're clear). Would I have picked it up before coming to work for a textile importer? Most likely not.

A typically gorgeous photo of weaving in progress and finished products from Selvedge.

Cote du Sud focuses on homes and home decor, with gorgeous photography and dazzling layouts. My French is pretty weak, so color and texture are the bulk of what I take away from their issues. Also a strong desire to travel to the places they picture so eloquently.

With colors like these, is it any wonder we tore this picture out of the December Cote du Sud and put it on our wall?

Wild Fibers is published quarterly from Rockland, Maine. More lush photography, here spotlighting animals whose wool can be spun, carded and woven--and the people who raise them in all parts of the world. I still have so much to learn about textiles, this one is as educational for me as it is aesthetically pleasing.

Of course, there's no way I could pass on Wild Fibers as long as it has faces like this in it!

—Amy