Happy New Year!
Global Handicrafts wishes you and your family peace, health and happiness as we soar into 2012 and then the Lunar New Year!
We're taking this special Chinese season to highlight handicrafts that will help you entertain your guests and loved ones, like our selection of beautiful lacquerware bowls in red and gold, great for holding snacks or bringing the festive colours to your home, or treats like our range of Divine Fair Trade chocolates, perfect for sharing, or Fair Trade instant coffee, one of Global Handicrafts' best sellers.
Make it a Fair Trade Lunar New Year!
Once disabled, now enabled - Dorcas Design
Lily, of China, was abandoned at the gate of an orphanage after her father abused and burned her. Left with terrible burn scars and unresolved emotional pain, Lily grew up in the institution feeling insecure and isolated. She loved to sew, but she would do it alone, without anyone to correct her mistakes or teach her new techniques.
When Lily was a young adult, Dorcas Design, a Chinese social enterprise, invited her to come to Guangzhou as a trainee in their sewing workshop, where they train people with disabilities to produce quilted handicrafts.
It was the beginning of Lily's new life.
Today, Lily has a prosthetic right leg, her left leg covered in scar tissue, and a metal joint in her left ankle, yet she walks straight and tall with dignity, knowing she now works in a place that offers her respect and the chance to be self-sufficient. You can purchase one of the quilted qipao bags made at Dorcas Design through the Global Handicrafts online shop, with more Dorcas Design products available instore!
Farmers Market
Each week, a local organic vegetable group (The FVMCS' Community Growers' Group) is now bringing a half-dozen local farms to our site to sell organic fruits and vegetables. It is held each Saturday from 10 until 4; you can find them just outside the Silk Road cafe. Come along to pick up some fresh, flavourful, local produce! (And if you're in the organic mood, you can also head into Global Handicrafts for a range of organic, Fair Trade products including spices, rice, coffee, tea, etc.)
