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Making a Difference
CREATIVE
WOMEN cares... about beautiful hand-woven
textiles, about good design, and about improving
women's lives. We are a Vermont based company,
working in partnership with six women-owned textile
design studios in Ethiopia, Swaziland, Afghanistan,
and Mali, to create traditionally-inspired contemporary
accessories and home textiles. More than just
designing and selling textiles, Creative
Women works to promote equitable trading
practices and to support women's economic independence.
I
founded Creative Women because
I love beautiful things; I want to make a real
difference in women's lives; and I'm fascinated
by travel. Creative Women allows
me to do all three... by buying directly from
women-owned businesses, by expanding markets for
hand-woven textiles, and by paying fair prices
for our goods. |
Why We Came to Be
Creative
Women began in Ethiopia. It grew out of
my experiences and travels. I saw sex workers training
to be hairdressers, only to find there were no jobs
available. I visited rehab centers where women were
sewing and embroidering beautiful table cloths,
but the only market for their products was a small
bazaar for the ex-pats living in Addis Ababa. I
realized that by finding markets in the US, an opportunity
existed to improve women's lives and to maintain
a centuries-old art form by introducing the West
to the beauty of Ethiopian textiles. |
Woman
with Camel in Rural Ethiopia
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Seamstress at Menby's
Design
in Ethiopia |
What
We Have Accomplished
For the past seven
years, Creative Women has been importing elegant
wearable accessories and accents for the home
from our partners abroad.. By finding markets
for their handsome and unique products in the
United States, Creative Women is supporting the
emerging private sector in each of these countries
and more importantly, creating jobs for women
in societies where good jobs are rare.
We
have played a part in the growth of all of our
partners companies and today help provide jobs
for over 300 people, from office staff, to weavers,
to sewers, maintenance workers, and tea ladies.
Each
of these energetic businesses brings something
unique to our array of textiles. The weaver/artisans
at Menby's Design in Addis Ababa produce the centuries-old
tibeb , an intricate hand-woven border; then Menby's
seamstresses transform the tibeb into pillows,
wall hangings, table runners, mats, shawls, scarves,
and handbags.
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The artisans at Sabahar spin silk from local cocoons,
hand-weave the textiles, and use natural dyes
to create soft, unique, beautiful goods. Thanks
to Sabahar and its commitment to creating jobs
for a broad spectrum of women, silk production
has returned to and continues to grow in Ethiopia.
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At
Negist, another textile studio in Addis Ababa,
dyers are adding vibrant and unusual colors to
traditional Ethiopian blankets and scarves using
low-impact, plant-based dyes.
In
Swaziland, three generations of women at Coral
Stephens have been weaving mohair, and now raffia
and other raw materials, into elegant and vibrant
home and personal accessories. This committed
Swazi business employs 60 talented women and provides
them with training, skills, and financial independence...
all difficult to find in rural areas.
Azana, a small studio in Afghanistan, employs 20+ women to produce elegant 100% silk scarves. The women are trained
them in weaving and dyeing, and offered literacy
and educational courses after hours. We're very
excited about working with the women of Azana,
and just as delighted to be bringing their products
to the US market.
Our
newest partnership is with the Cooperative Djiguiyaso
in Mali. The women there produce intricate crochet-work,
which is turned into unusual organic pillows,
scarves and shawls. We're excited about
working with them to add indigo to our array of
products, and to expand our tabletop collection.
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One
of Azana's newly-trained weavers.
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What
We've Been Doing
We've been busy.
We...
- are a member of
the Fair Trade Federation of America;
- have been selected
for the juried Sustainability Display at the
New York International Gift Fair for the past
three years;
- are regular exhibitors
at the New York International Gift Fair (come
see us in booth 5428);
- were featured in
ABC Home's Focus on Africa events;
- exhibited at an invitation-only
show at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art;
- have been featured
in local, state, and national magazines, including
the NY Times, Elle Decor, The Dallas Sun
Times, Victoria, Martha Stewart, Country Living,
and the Burlington Free Press; (see Media
on this site for a full list)
- won "Best Visual
Presentation, Hand-made Division" at the San
Francisco Gift Fair;
- spoke at the annual
event in Washington, DC of Disruptive Women
in Health, about Employment as a Health Intervention
... AND
- entered into the
age of social media and now have an on-going
BLOG,
Take a look ...
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By
buying Creative Women
products you, too are Creating Beautiful Things...
in your own life, and in the lives of the hundreds
of women we work with.
Ellen
Dorsch
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70 East Shore North, Grand Isle, VT 05458