Fair Trade Blog

As easy as it would be for us as American’s to feel sorry for ourselves after last week’s near melt down of our financial foundation, most of us still have a paycheck, a safe place to work, and pretty nice place to go home to at the end of the day. 

It’s easy to forget that there are lots of places in the world where people have none of the things I just mentioned.   They get up wondering about their safety and how to meet their daily needs. 

In times like these, a little perspective is good for the soul. 

Our government is regularly using the “T” word — as in trillion dollars – to describe the amount of money it will take to bail us out of our current financial mess.   It’s a number that bears little resemblence to any reality in our daily lives.  So how much is that really?  If you stacked up a trillion pennies, the stack would reach past the moon to a height of 986,426 miles. 

Back here on earth, let’s compare a trillion dollars to the amount of money it takes to sustain a worker in say, Kenya.   The living wage in that country is somewhere between $5-10 per day — so a worker there might be able to sustain themselves for a month on the cash you have in your wallet or purse right now.  

The national hangover from the housing bubble and our financial crisis will pass, and while there is probably more pain ahead, it teaches us once again that just because we can live beyond our means for a time, doesn’t mean we should.  

Shopping is not on many people’s minds in these tense days of serious financial reconsideration,  but we’re here when you want to join hands with artisans around the world to change the world – one purchase at a time. 

Sometimes when new and exciting items arrive here, it feels just like the holidays. Filled with anticipation, we open boxes and pull out delightful treasures. Just like giddy kids, we can’t wait to see what’s new and share it with others.

It was almost like December here again recently with the arrivel of more Tropical Salvage furniture and other distinctive items.

We have been offering beautiful Tropical Salvage hardwood furniture here in the shop for nearly a year now. It never fails to start conversation with our new customers. Each piece is made from salvaged wood in Indonesia — either from demolished buildings, or logs that are literally mined from where they fell and were buried by mud flows or ash falls. Some of the recovered wood is ancient and reveals the beginnings of mineralization.

Our pieces range from a practical wine cabinet to carved wooden boxes perfect for tabletop storage. We have tables, sideboards, chairs, occasional tables, and coffee tables on display in our store. For the first time, we will soon begin offering some of these items online.

From the moment we opened our shop nearly two years ago, Haitian metalwork has been a popular item in our store. Tough steel from discarded oil drums is cut and hammered into distinctive designs. Our stunning Sun Wall Hangers are made from this metal and then painted in striking colors to bring out the highlights of the shaped and embossed surface.

We’ve also added wonderful greeting cards with a story that fits our mission perfectly. The women of Original Tea Bag Designs collect used tea bags, dry them, then paint them for their fascinating cards. The cooperative gives work to previously unemployed women living near Cape Town, South Africa. I couldn’t agree more with their motto. “When life gives you tea bags… make art.”

Look for exciting new items here at Driftless Fair Traders through the Fall and Holiday season. Fair Trade has never been a better choice.

Keep shopping your good values!