Anonymous Angels crafts Fair Indigo fall jewelry line
05 Sep '07
4 min read
The Anonymous Angels cooperative is the primary source for Fair Indigo's expanding jewelry and accessories line that debuts this season with handcrafted bracelets, rings and earrings of sterling silver, natural stone and an assortment of metals.
Even the sterling silver chains are hand-crafted, Behnke said, using silver ingots that are painstakingly pushed through progressively smaller openings in a manual press, eventually forming thin strings of silver that become chains for necklaces and wires for earrings.
Orders placed to support Fair Indigo's Fall Collection mean the Anonymous Angels artisans will earn a fair wage in clean, safe working conditions, with the added benefit of continuous work, Behnke said.
"For many of these individuals this is the first time they have had any sense of security. They can go beyond surviving day-do-day to a place where living a purposeful and rewarding life is not just possible, but real."
Who are the Anonymous Angels? : Fair trade helps all sorts of workers, but in the developing world disabled citizens get especially poor treatment as they are often considered unemployable.
Recognizing the raw jewelry-making talents possessed by some of the disabled street vendors, two Peruvian retail industry veterans pooled their resources to fund the cooperative that has become the Anonymous Angels.
Supplying work space, proper tools, equipment and training, the pair recruited those already selling jewelry on the street, helped hone their skills, then worked to create a larger market for their pieces.
Today the cooperative employs 25 and is actively recruiting and training others to meet demand. It is fortuitously located adjacent to a shelter that is home to some 470 disabled people.
Work with the Anonymous Angels is just one example of the kind of alliances Fair Indigo is forming with artisans, cooperatives and factories to promote its socially conscious fair trade mission worldwide, Behnke said.
"Our goal is to be able to employ these highly skilled craftsmen and women not just for this year," he said, "but for years to come. As our business grows, we want to help them scale up to meet demand."
"They have the tools, the know-how, the materials and the commitment. We just want to open the door of opportunity far enough to help them see the future, and we believe that with the help of our customers, we can."
marketing@alchempro.com
