Just spent 5 days inside the Javits Center, exhibiting Creative Women's hand-woven textiles, at the New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF). Each day I walked to the Javits, about 1.5 miles, mostly along the the High Line, the park in the sky that was once an elevated train line and is now the talk of NY. Good design abounds on the High Line.

HighLine

I would climb two flights of stairs and as I reached the top steps, started smiling as I saw this view.  Natural plantings, chunky chaise lounges attached to the original train tracks, elegant drinking fountains, comfortable benches so you can watch the foot traffic on the High Line or the car traffic below you on 10th Avenue.  By the time I reached the end at 30th St and 11 Avenue, I was ready to spend the whole day inside (although I would have rather been outside).

Once inside, I rarely left my booth, even though I wanted to see what was new and good looking.  But I realized that I didn't have to go far to see some innovative and pleasing uses of something old ... or to see a new take on a traditional object.

Two aisles down, I met the women from Makaua,(MAKAUA in the ancient Nahuatl language
has two meanings:“hand to hand” or the act of “giving a hand”). 

Makaua

Makaua hires over 400 people to grow the palm fronds, dye their amazing and contemporary colors, weave the wonderfully shaped baskets, and market them around the world. They epitomize the concept of using tradtional skills to bring new life to craft.

At the end of the show I realized that I really hadn't spent much time looking around, so I looked across the aisle at BittersCo, the wholesale and retail general store, out of Seattle, and founded by sisters, Amy and Katie Carson. This is a booth filled with interesting reruns ... one product tweaked or reconfigured that becomes something new. Their set of tin boxes, nested within each other and perfect for storing kitchen and desk paraphernalia, are hand-made in Mexico from old oil barrels. Good looking, useful, "green" ...

bitters

And, how can I resist showing our Creative Women's new throws and blankets from Guatemala ... our contribution to the new and lovely at the NYIGF? 

Atitlan

It would be hard for a company like Creative Women — founded for the purpose of creating economic opportunities for women in countries like Ethiopia (and, okay, for getting our hands on those beautiful hand-woven textiles) — not to be a fan of a magazine like Hand/Eye, with its mission to "engender intelligent debate among artisans, exporters, designers, artists, wholesalers and importers, retailers, and consumers so that all may make smart, ethical, and inspired decisions about their activities."

And then, when they feature us on their blog, how could we not want to brag about that? Check out Annie Waterman's piece here.

Hand_Eye_05_26_11

~ Amy

It's Spring here in Vermont (with some record breaking flooding in the Champlain Islands where I live) and I'm thinking alpaca. In a few months I'll be back at the New York International Gift Fair, listening to our customers asking for something more wintery than our Ethiopian cotton and silk. So, I decided that it's time for Creative Women to branch out ... to another country(s) and another fiber. And since the Peruvian government offered to sponsor my trip, I traveled to Lima two weeks ago to attend the Peruvian Gift Show.

Floodsof2011

Lima is a bustling and interesting city. There are lovely areas for walking and looking at small shops, old architecture, and tucked away residential areas. There's also some wonderful small museums; Museo Amano, a private collection of pre-Columbian pottery and textiles and Museo Lorca with lovely gardens and a visual presentation through the display of sculpture, pottery and art, of the historical progression of the people of the Andes.

Stripes have always been popular.

LorcaCactus

LorcaGrounds

The food is terrific.  If we hadn't stayed in the 3B (a wonderful, friendly small hotel in Barranco) with their cooked to order breakfast everyday, we would have eaten out 3xday, sampling seafood, grilled meats, hip, au courant bistros, and Chifa (Chinese and Peruvian fused together into something delicious). Every morning there were lots of conversation about what/where we ate the night before.

Limalunch

And yes, I did go to the Peru Gift Show. Going to Peru (7+ hours by plane) made it possible for me to meet Bryant Archie, the founder of D.Bryant Archie, a creator of classic and contemporary textiles (throws, pillows, rugs) hand-woven in Peru. Of course, I could have met her in NY; now that we've met in Peru, we'll follow up in NY. Both our products reflect our admiration for traditional motifs, hand-woven textiles, and simply elegant contemporary style.

DBAcover

I also met very friendly and helpful Peruvian producers and designers who gave me an introduction to alpaca. I learned that there are differences between doing business in Ethiopia and Peru; Ethiopia is a "one-stop" shopping experience, where in Peru, often different businesses or coops specialize in different steps in the production process. But  I left Peru with ideas for 3 different collections of scarves and throws (all alpaca) and am now working on how to take my idea and turn it into a warm and cozy product that our buyers will wow over ... and buy.

I hope to have some prototypes to show you at the NYIGF in August.

Ellen

Almost two years ago, a man came to our Burlington, Vermont studio to have a first-hand look at our hand-woven textiles. He told us about his business, Vermont Farm Table, where he made wooden farmhouse furniture, mostly to order, and sold it on the web. He had heard about our Ethiopian cotton tablecloths and napkins, and thought that they would complement his tables.

He was right.

Now he's opened a storefront in Burlington, and it looks terrific. I had to snap a picture with my cell phone the first time I walked by and saw his beautiful tables in the window—with a selection of our beautiful napkins arranged on top. I sent it to Ellen right away, but unfortunately didn't save it to post here. So here's a screen capture from their homepage:

Vermont Farm Table's showroom in downtown Burlington. You can see one of our Silk and Cotton Throws over the table at the back, and a Stripe Napkin hanging over the box in front.

~ Amy

On the last day of my recent trip to Ethiopia, we had decided that it would be interesting for the staff (admin, weavers, sewers, fringers, dyers, tea lady ... everyone) to see what the products that they create look like in stores, on websites (some of them had never heard of a web site), in catalogs. So, I showed them the Creative Women website, links to Ochre and Anthropologie, (2 stores that carry our products), photos that I have taken, and our booth at the NYIGF. 

With each new photo, I started hearing whispering, but since the whispering was in Amharic, I didn't know what was being said. The fellow who was translating told me that one of the weavers was telling everyone that he made the towels that I was showing and that he'd never seen them look so good. His proud grin gave made me pretty proud, too.

Weaving with a smile.

Then one of the sewing women asked me (through the interpretor) if I would comment on the pillows ... how was the sewing. This was a particularly timely question, since our first pillows often arrived in VT and went straight to a local seamstress who inserted new zippers.  Today, the pillows arrive looking perfect; I showed her a photo that I took in my home, of the pillow collection. More whispering, laughing ...

Tsigist, one of Sabahar's sewers.

On of the weavers (a young man who comes to work in an ironed shirt, neat pants and loafers and changes into his weaving clothes before starting work) asked where I got my ideas for designs. I told him I look at magazines, work with Kathy on new ideas, and look around me a lot. I then suggested that he might have some good ideas for designs since he's an expert weaver, and should tell the production manager if he has any. I suspect that Sabahar has a undiscovered designer among the weavers.

The final comment came from one of the dyers ... a tall man who would smile and say hello to me each time I walked by the dyeing room.  That's as far as our conversations ever got. But, now he just said "I never thought about what happens to the things I dye.  eeing where they end up, I'm proud to make things that show the world that beautiful things come from Ethiopia." Wow.

.Dots Beach Blankets drying in Addis before being shipped to the US.   

I love the creativity of our customers, from the buyer at this past NYIGF showing Ellen how—with a quick fold and some judicious draping—the item we had always thought of as a throw could also be worn as an elegant wrap, to helpful suggestions regarding color and design in our existing lines.

And then, every once in a while, someone comes up with something completely different.

Last November we got an email from a woman planning a baby gift for her sister-in-law, who was born in Ethiopia.

Your story caught my eye, because of the fact that the products you sell benefit the women and families of their respective countries. If I could find fabric to incorporate into the blanket that is from/reflects the Ethiopian culture and makes a difference in the peoples’ lives that would mean so much to her.

The quilt Sarah made for her new nephew.

After some emailing back and forth, we sent her a silk and cotton shawl from our discontinued GEO line; and see nicely how she's put it together to showcase the traditional tibeb design that was originally on the ends.

Her sister-in-law loved the gift (hard to imagine that she wouldn't), and wrote:

I worry that living in America all he'll want to be and know is about being American. It's not totally a bad thing, but makes me sad that my heritage might end up forgotten because of circumstances. Not being around Ethiopians and being so far away from my family are all things that can contribute to him not knowing enough about me. ·Being an immigrant is hard and raising a child in this country in a multicultural situation is even harder. So thank you for confirming that you understand and that you care about him knowing his maternal heritage. Right when I feel like all the duty of teaching my child my history and culture is all on me, you came along and gave us this extraordinary gift. Thank you for making me feel like I am not alone and that this is not just my family's responsibility.

It's pretty amazing for me to be part of a gift like that, and all I did was send her a shawl. One more great thing about working at Creative Women.

~ Amy

The New York International Gift Fair, some new and exciting orders, revamping our web site, the holidays spent in NY during the HUGE snow storm (attacking snow banks with my grandkids) ... no wonder I forgot about our blog. But now that I want everyone to know we have a new website at Creative Women, it's time to talk.

Deciding to revamp was an interesting process. After about 5 years with basically the same site, I realized that the old site suffered from "web site drift". It looked ok, all the products were there, but we had lost our image. And, some of the text was just too cute for Creative Women ... purveyors of clean, yet slightly rustic, natural, but not crunchy, and quietly stylish accessories. The new site is "fresh"; some new photos, new text, a login that brings wholesale buyers right to the prices and shopping cart, and lots of white space, so that you can think.

Take a look ... let us know what you think, if you want. Come see us at the NYIGF, Booth 6308 (January 29-February 2).

Ellen

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.

 Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.

• The desert … the trip from the ocean to the desert, was just two hours.·We traveled to Ndem, about a three-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 U.S.-based non-profit that works with artisans around the world, ONG Ndem has created new products that they are eager to export to the United States.  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:
ONG staff and product designer.Product development.








 

Senegalese woman hanging textiles out to dry.

~ Ellen

Another NYIGF chapter … last blog I wrote about an amazing woman, introduced to me in a round-about manner at the Gift Fair. This blog, I'm writing about stripes. (No, stripes were not in the curriculum when I was getting my Master's in Creative Women's Striped tablecloth, one of our best sellers.Public Health). But it does seem that Creative Women is getting a reputation for lovely, slightly retro stripes and more than ten of our customers at the Show gave me suggestions for new stripes or new products embellished with stripes.

So I started wondering why people like stripes so much and found out about the book The Devil's Cloth by Michel Pastoureau. Although I haven't read the book yet, I've learned a lot about stripes' history (from monks, to prisoners, to Coco Chanel; from a way to label a prisoner or misfit to a way to add a happy touch to a room or outfit. So far, I'm still not sure why people like them so much, but hope to find out. Any thoughts about this?

For now, we're working on new striped scarves and throws for Spring, 2011. I think they'll make you happy.

~ Ellen

It's not as if folding laundry has ever been a favorite hobby of mine; and although I have done enough waitressing to know how satisfying it is to have a couple of boxes of napkins ready to go for the dinner rush, I certainly never took particular pleasure (or care) in folding them at home.

Then I came to work at Creative Women. Every shipment we receive, of course, has to be counted, then shelved in a way that makes each product easy to identify and pull out for filling orders. At first, I thought Ellen's insistence that all the tablecloths should be folded the one way, all the scarves another was just possibly a little compulsive.

Within a month or so, however, I realized she was absolutely right. Give it another six months, and I started experimenting with different folds to use shelf space more efficiently while keeping the fabrics in good shape. I've been here two years now, and I've gotten a little territorial about the folding. Come on—I just want to be sure it's done right. Not that I'm compulsive about it, or anything.

But if you do it carefully, you can smooth out most of the shipping wrinkles as you go, and everything will fit better on the shelves, and those full shelves just look so much better … and, yes, I've become a little compulsive. Sue me.

This is what's making me happy today (excuse the picture quality; it's from my cell phone):
Tablecloths, blankets, and throws, oh my!

Okay, some of the stacks are starting to get wobbly, but still, there's something about shelves full of nicely-folded tablecloths (and blankets, and throws) that makes me smile.

And the scarves that I completely re-vamped when we got the new colors in. Again: full shelves, smiling Amy.

Lots of folded scarves.

~ Amy