Bambootique works directly with artisan cooperatives to provide you with all our beautiful, fairly-traded products. All our artisans have been carefully screened to ensure they meet the principles of fair trade. Besides a steady income, these artisan cooperatives provide women with a sense of pride and self-worth, a safe place to work, job training, opportunities to express their cultural heritage through the products they create, and additional social support such as scholarships for their children to attend school. Read on to learn more about these inspiring women!

Guardian Village Handicrafts, Nepal

Meet Ritu, a single mother whose husband abandoned her shortly after their daughter was born. Women in Nepal who have children out of wedlock or whose husbands abandon them have few economic options and are quickly thrown into poverty. Ritu found a future for herself at Guardian Village Handicrafts (GVH). GVH trains and employs mostly single mothers who produce beautiful beaded jewelry and knitted bags. Through her work with GVH, Ritu is able to provide food and clothing for herself and her daughter. Ritu and the other women of GVH also receive scholarship support for their children to help send them to school to help break the cycle of poverty.

ACTA de Honduras, Honduras

Honduras’ indigenous Lencan people have a long history of skilled pottery work, dating back to pre-Hispanic times. These skills are cultivated by the non-governmental private Swiss organization, ACTA, which has helped the women use their pottery skills to create beautiful jewelry. ACTA works with over 300 women artisans to help them retain their traditional skills and use them to provide sustainable incomes. ACTA provides training and design assistance, small loans for business-related purchases, and access to export markets including the U.S. and Europe. With the steady incomes, the women are better able to provide education, food and healthcare for their families while preserving their cultural heritage for the next generation.

Bambootique's newest line from ACTA is pewter jewelry made from recycled soda cans. The metal workers collect soda cans from area restaurants, then over high heat turn the aluminum cans into beautiful lightweight pewter jewelry in traditional Lencan/ Mayan designs.

Click here to see the jewelry created by Acta de Honduras

Proyecto Eco-Quetzal, Guatemala

Guatemala contains some of the most threatened tropical forests in the world. The non-governmental organization Proyecto Eco-Quetzal is successfully addressing the problem of deforestation by assisting the indigenous Mayan Q’eqchi people in the production and marketing of traditional candles. The candles are made of wax from the seeds of the native arrayan trees, one of the principal trees of the endangered cloud forest. The candles provide an alternative form of income from subsistence agriculture. The candles are 100% natural, with cotton wicks and no added perfumes.

Click here to see the candles of Proyecto Eco-Quetzal

Y-Development Cooperation, Thailand

Despite the major economic advances in recent years in Thailand, many rural villagers have yet to feel the benefits of the economic growth. Poverty is especially rampant in rural areas in the northern and north-eastern parts of the country. The Y-Development Cooperation helps northern Thai artisans market their distinctive handmade products locally and internationally. Y-Development encourages the production of traditional handicrafts in order to maintain the northern Thai cultural heritage. The products produced by the Thai artisans use local, renewable resources such as bamboo and mulberry bark. In addition to providing supportive income for the artisans, Y-Development also supports rural development programs.

Click here to see the products produced by the artisans of Y-Development Cooperation

Rajana Association, Cambodia

Rajana is a local, Cambodian NGO that provides employment for rural and urban Cambodians through income generation and skill-training projects. Rajana’s artisans are trained in the production and marketing of traditional Cambodian crafts, preserving their rich design heritage while earning an income. Rajana’s silk bags and silk and cotton scarves are produced by women in rural villages and marginalized urban women using traditional, hand-crafted methods.

Click here to see Rajana’s silk and cotton scarves and silk bags

Learn to Earn, South Africa

For over 20 years Learn to Earn has been providing vocational training to disadvantaged young people near Capetown, South Africa. Some of Learn to Earn's program graduates come from areas where unemployment hovers near 70%. Learn to Earn's sewing program graduates are highly skilled and produce high-quality goods including Bambootique's fun, funky messenger and laptop bags.  Zoleka (pictured left) is just one of Learn to Earn's graduates who has gone from full dependency on male family members to economic independency because of the income she now earns through sewing.

Click here to see Learn to Earn's messenger and laptop bags.