Here’s a video we put together of one of the Black Ceramic Fruit Bowls being made for our next shipment due in early May. Chris shot the footage during his visit to Lombok Pottery Centre in February 2010.
Chris just got back a couple of days ago from visiting two of our suppliers in Indonesia, Mitra Bali and Lombok Pottery Centre, and was able to have a look at our upcoming orders being produced. More to follow soon…
KartiMarket recently met with Sally from Shared Interest, a large fair trade organisation that provides financial support to fair trade producers in developing countries, to talk about why we invest in Shared Interest and to see how both organisations could work together in the future to further the fair trade cause. We had a really interesting meeting, and, as Sally mentions in the Shared Interest blog article on KartiMarket, we share many of the same values. Our organisations really complement each other - Shared Interest’s financial support enables producers to make their wonderful products while KartiMarket provides the channel for these same producers to sell their products. And by investing our profits back into Shared Interest, KartiMarket is completing this cycle. We look forward to working even more closely in the future as our business grows.
Fairtrade Fortnight (23 February to 8 March 2009) is upon us and is the Fairtrade Foundation’s annual campaign to raise awareness of Fairtrade Mark products and of course fair trade. During this fortnight the Fairtrade Foundation runs a variety of events promoting fair trade, from debates on international trade to a banana eating contest. The Fairtrade Mark can be seen on a variety of mostly agricultural products including coffee, chocolate, wine, cotton and of course bananas - products carrying this mark are certified as having fulfilled the requirements to qualify as fair trade.
Most of KartMarket’s products are supplied by fair trade certified organisations that carry the World Fair Trade Organisation (WTFO, formerly IFAT) mark (these organisations usually producing handicrafts rather than agricultural products), meaning that these organisations are monitored and follow fair trade practices.
KartiMarket will soon be offering our own products using Fairtrade Mark cotton, so look out for them soon!
In February 2008 I was fortunate enough to visit two of our fair trade suppliers in Indonesia: Mitra Bali and Lombok Pottery Centre.
Mitra Bali is located just outside Ubud, central Bali, the cultural and artistic heart of this beautiful island. It’s a great town to wander in and out of craft stores and galleries, absorb the unique sights and smells of the streets and eat the wonderful foods (I recommend the suckling pig at Ibu Oka’s warung, or for vegetarians head to Bumbu Bali and grab yourself a vegetarian nasi campur.)
I was kindly picked up from my guesthouse by our friends from Mitra Bali and driven the 15 minute journey past rice fields to their headquarters. I was given a very welcoming greeting from Directors, Agung Alit and Hani Durasa, real pioneers of fair trade in Indonesia. We discussed our shared passion in design and fair trade over a strong Balinese coffee and I was given a tour of the lovely Mitra Bali premises which felt wonderfully secluded from the hustle and bustle that you so often encounter in this populous nation. After taking a look at many of the great crafts and products available at Mitra Bali and saying farewell to the friendly staff, I was dropped back in central Ubud for the next step of my journey.
Upon arriving on the island of Lombok I headed to Mataram, the capital. In sweltering afternoon heat I crammed myself and my backpack into a local bemo (mini bus) and went to the Lombok Pottery Centre (LPC). Interestingly, the bemo driver, upon learning of my required destination, wanted me to visit his friend’s shop instead where he assured me I could get cheaper pottery. Thinking I would be impressed, he informed me that his friend gets the pottery from villagers at very low prices - I quickly learnt that there is still plenty of work to be done in ensuring a fairer go for so many craftspeople in Lombok, making LPC’s work so much more important.
Novi and Ayu were there to assist me and explain the work that LPC does to give local craftswomen and their families opportunities for forging a better living. Lombok pottery really strikes a beautiful balance between rustic and refined, and the large warehouse at LPC was fantastic to wander around in to view these products.
I remember visiting LPC way back when I was a child on my first backpacking adventure with my father. Back then it was a fledgling organisation with some very admirable aims. Some 18 years later it was great to see a slickly run organisation that is helping promote the craft that is so unique to this island.
In future we hope to visit more current and potential suppliers to see first hand the work they do to contribute to their communities. It’s so important to put faces to names and see the passion so many people have for fair trade and the people it helps.
For more information on Mitra Bali and Lombok Pottery Centre please have a look at our pages on these two organisations and the products of theirs that we sell.
KartiMarket is pleased to announce that it is now a member of Shared Interest, a UK-based co-operative lending society that provides fair and just financial services to disadvantaged communities to enable them to trade their way out of poverty.
Shared Interest’s mission is in line with KartiMarket’s own mission to aid the development of disadvantaged groups, and their activities play an essential part in fair trade’s overall role by providing financial services to producers in developing countries, enabling them to buy raw materials, tools and other necessities in a timely manner. These producers in most cases do not have access to mainstream financial services in their own countries - and the current financial crisis means that these producers are now finding it almost impossible to access lines of credit.
This goes hand in hand with KartiMarket’s role as buyer and retailer - utilising credit producers are able to satisfy orders from companies like ourselves who in turn are able to offer these products to final customers whose demand then creates larger orders for suppliers (increasing income for producer families), and again, the need for credit. In fact Shared Interest has assisted some of KartiMarket’s suppliers such as Camari in Ecuador and Mitra Bali in Indonesia, and the fruits of this virtuous cycle can be seen in our online store!
To become a member of Shared Interest, KartiMarket has deposited funds with Shared Interest, pooling funds with other members that will be used to provide the financial services to producers, and we will continue to contribute more funds as our business continues to grow.
