Creative Women

Creativity Squared

Last November I wrote about Dining for Women ("Dining for Change," November 5, 2009), and how much we appreciated being able to help their mission by supplying products for one of their fundraising dinners. We participated again this year, again with excellent results.

One of the items we sent was a bag of cocoon flowers, made from silkworm cocoons after the silk has been removed. Carolyn Mayers, who has been our DFW contact person for the past three years, used the ones we sent to finish her own creative effort, this brightly colored scarf:

 

In our own product line, we use undyed flowers to edge our Cocoon Shawl:

Isn't it wonderful to see how many ways there are to use the same objects? Love to see that creativity in action!

 ~ Amy

P.S. Before the holiday shopping stress gets you down, take some time to check out the Fair Trade Federation's new  downloadable Shop Fair, Give Fair Holiday Guide. Beautiful, hand-made gifts that give back to the people who made them; that's the holiday spirit.

 

 

It was hot ...

I just spent a week in Senegal; my emails home were short ... "it's hot, very interesting, too tired to write, more later".  I never got to write the "more later", so here's a short version of it.

• I saw the sun set over the Atlantic; here in the US the sun rises over the Atlantic, so having a beer on the deck of a bar, in Saly, Senegal while the sun setting, was a "must".  So was swimming in the Atlantic, no waves, warm water ... I knew I wasn't floating at Fire Island or in Maine.

• The desert ... the trip from the ocean to the desert, was just a two hour trip.  We traveled to Ndem, about a 3 hour trip from Dakar, but light years away.  The rainy season had just ended so, although everywhere we walked, we walked on sand, there were still signs of green vegetation and flowers.  

  
 Ndem ... an area of small villages that have been hit by draught, desertification, people leaving for the city.  Also the home of Ong Ndem, a non-governmental community of Senegalese and Westerners who are bringing water, farming, schools, health centers back to the Ndem area. And, they are bringing jobs  ... through their artisan projects (one of their job creation projects).  And that's why I was there, to see their lovely textile products.

Thanks to Aid to Artisans, a US based non-profit that works with artisans around the world, Ong NDem has created new products that they are eager to export to the US.  I was there to see if any of these products will work with the Creative Women lines and appeal to our customers.  It was a long and hot journey, but looking back, wow, I did find some products. I also have some amazing photos, and I met fascinating people who are spanning cultures, creating jobs, and resisting some of the pressures of a changing ecological climate.  

Take a look at a few of the images I keep in my mind:

NGO Staff and ATA Designer

Product Development

 

 

Creative Women Loves Stripes (or at least I do) ...

Couldn't resist ... I now own the book, The Devil's Cloth; The History of Stripes.  It's short; that's good.  The beginning section is a bit more serious than I need it to be, but the sections dealing with more recent history really make the connections between stripes and feeling good. Once stripes stopped being associated with monks, prisoners, prostitutes, jugglers, and the French navy, Picasso, Coco Chanel, and others, began dressing in striped shirts, it was just a short jump to associating the stripes with the sea, then the beach, then the sun and feeling goood.  Why wouldn't Creative Women use stripes in our products?

I've been going through some of my photos looking for stripes, here, in the my travels, on kids,adding pizazz to decor, and just making people feel good. Take a look ...

Colorful Stripes in Ethiopia

 


Hand-knit striped hats, on the side of the road, Dorze, Ethiopia.

Fat babies like stripes.

 
Les Nubians (carrying a Creative Women bag) like stripes.

Tying the warp and making the stripes, in Ethiopia.

 

Some people can't get enough stripes ...

Well, maybe these aren't strictly stripes, but couldn't resist showing you these plastic manikins seen in shops all around Addis.

Ellen

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

Great Day ...

This morning on my walk, I was thinking about how I now need to create a Hassle List on our white board.  I believe that if I don't stay on top of my hassles (become the "squeaky wheel") than those hassles will never be resolved ... or at least not in my favor. 

On the way to work, I checked my IPhone and found out that the bank in Mali, which had been sitting on my $1600.00 wire for 6 weeks and not depositing it in the account of Cooperative Djiguiyaso, my supplier in Mali, finally was convinced the money belonged to Dyigui, not the bank.  Hassle #1 ... settled.

Then, at work, I got an email from my broker at UPS, forwarding Customs and Border Protection's ruling that I had complied with their requests and they would not be charging my duty on my current shipment from Ethiopia.  Of course, under AGOA they were not supposed to charge me duty, but they had the right to ask me certain questions: they did, I replied.  After more than a bit of wrangling, they agreed with me.  Hassle #2 ... settled.

It's a beautiful day in Vermont, we're almost ready for the New York International Gift Fair (BOOTH 6308); things are looking good.

Come meet us in NY ... see the wonderful accessories our colleagues make for us.  It's one of those days when things go right.

Ellen 

Creative Thinking

Poverty and an exploding world population are topics that impact all of us, whether we like to think about them or not (and most of us don't). Swedish doctor and professor Hans Rosling has a creative take on the links between the two.

Food for thought, certainly: creating markets, jobs, and the opportunity for prosperity will create benefits for individuals and the planet.  Sounds like a double-benefit to me! Those job we support do matter.

~Amy

It's either too hot or too cold ...

Am I the only one who thinks it's amazing that the temperature in Grand Isle, VT (and Burlington, VT where Creative Women is located) is hotter than the temperature in Bamako, Mali or Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?  Next time I travel to either of these places to work with the women who produce Creative Women's textiles,I'm not going to bring them all my winter photos of Lake Champlain frozen.  (Yes, you really can drive your truck on the ice.) I'm going to bring them photos of Vermont at 97 degrees ... that's amazing!

This message expresses so much of what Creative Women is all about.

Please... click on the box, watch the video. And think about it.

Great changes start with small decisions.

Amy

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