Shop for your School or Nonprofit Now
LOGIN | MY BASKET: (0) items  

Handcrafted - Handmade

GGP products are handcrafted

All GGP products are handcrafted by artisans from around the world. Products are made using traditional techniques and design elements to create unique items of beauty and use in our modern lives. While generating revenue for communities, support for such products also preserves traditional production processes and cultural motifs. In particular, GGP seeks to preserve crafts and art forms at great risk of being lost including art from conflict regions and marginalized indigenous communities globally.

Adisia

Ethiopian Embroidery

In Ethiopia, women embroidered their dresses with vibrant decorative patterns, images from nature, and religious symbols. Now, women at Adisia use the same patterns to embroider a wide variety of unique and colorful products such as bookmarks, baby blankets, cosmetic bags, and Judaica like kippot (head coverings) and mezzuzot. The thirty embroiderers can work from home or at a community center in Afula, where Adisia provides the raw materials and tools necessary for their work.


Afghan Institute of Learning

Afghan Embroidery

Embroidery work is a centuries-old Afghan tradition that has influenced embroidery and pattern across Asia. Patterns vary by region. Broadly, embroidery from northern Afghanistan is distinguished by intricate, geometric patterns while khamak embroidery found in southern Afghanistan is distinguished by looser geometric and floral design. Shishadur, commonly found in Afghan embroidery, involves stitching small mirrors into the fabric. These mirrors are intended to ward away evil spirits. Traditionally, embroidery has been used to embellish everything from décor, clothing and gifts, as proud expressions of a family's ethnic heritage. The long-running instability and violence in Afghanistan, however, has affected more than people's livelihoods. This artwork is also dying out as people struggle to meet daily needs. Income generation programs like AIL's allow women to support themselves in the midst of turmoil and keep alive a tradition that has already had vast influence on art around the world.


Ak'tenamit

Corn Husk Bowls

The Mayan women of Ak'tenamit make use of local, renewable, natural resources including corn, banana leaves, and flowers to produce a range of housewares and accessories. Support for craft production compliments Ak'tenamits other efforts to encourage eco-tourism and educate the community about the environment, sustainable agriculture, and destructive logging. The decorative bowls available through GGP are made from cornhusks: A material that would otherwise be discarded has become a work of beauty and a source of income.

 


Alma de los Andes

Alpaca Knitwear

The women of Alma de los Andes produce a line of quality accessories from Alpaca wool: a warm, durrable, and soft fiber available in abundance in the Andes region. Hundreds of women work together at this nonprofit to produce high quality goods including clothing and a line of pet accessories. Handknitting means that the women do not need to purcahse expensive equipment or change their lifestyles, and there is minimal impact on the environment. Profits are reinvested in the organization to pay for instructors, day care, meals, and materials.


Artesania Sorata

Spun, Dyed, and Knit by Hand

Each piece is handcrafted start to finish. Women use a drop spindle to turn alpaca and sheep’s wool into yarn that is then dyed with natural vegetable dyes such as herbs, walnut leaves, and the renowned red dye of the region, cochineal. The alpaca used in all of Sorata’s knitwear is high quality—very soft, and very warm. The use of natural dyes is better, not only for the environment, but also for your skin. Artesania Sorata's success in turning age-old customs into new profits has revived the community's ancient cultural identity, which had nearly disappeared after centuries of outside influence.


Artetropic

Eco-Friendly Art

ARTETROPIC artisans are environmentally conscious and use the excesses of nature to create beautiful arts and crafts. Naturally renewable resources such as orange peels, banana leaves, jipi japa fibers (a wild palm found in the rainforest), and recycled paper are manipulated to make unique trinkets. Working in coordination with its artisans, ARTETROPIC conducts periodic environmental analysis to ensure that all of its operations are oriented towards preserving the rainforest.


Artisan Initiative for Choco

Women in Choco gather at the Chocofibres workshop to craft a variety of beautiful products out of natural materials. GGP features a collection of bags from palm tree fiber, know as Demaguarte. The collective of artisans strips the fiber from the tree bark and carefully washes the fibers in preparation for sewing. Whenever possible (not hindered by ongoing violence in the region), Chocofibres artisans buy natural dyes from indigenous groups in the jungle to paint the unique designs that adorn these eco-friendly bags.


Artisans Association Cambodia

The Cambodian Craft Revival

AAC is welcoming back to its nation the rich tradition of handmade crafts. During the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge's brutal regime in Cambodia led not only to mass atrocity, but also to the destruction of the arts and with it, weaving, pottery making, and woodcarving. AAC and its member organizations are reviving these traditional skills by training disadvantaged Cambodians to handcraft items using traditional techniques paired with modern fashions.

Cambodian Silk

The silkworms of Cambodia are unlike any of the surrounding regions. Due to their unique diet of mulberry leaves, these silkworms produce a quality silk that is naturally yellow tinted. During the Khmer Rouge, however, in order to survive, people cut down the precious mulberry trees leading to the near extinction of these worms. Currently, extensive efforts are being devoted to replanting mulberry trees and reviving the special silk worms. To make silk, their cocoons are boiled and separated into the outer cocoon, which results in fine silk, and the inner cocoon or raw silk. The only difference between the two silks is their texture although raw silk is often considered superior due its studier quality. Watthan Artisans Cambodia (WAC), one of AAC's member organizations, offers a high quality four-toned raw silk scarf that we carry here at GGP.


Asociacion de Artesanos Andinos

Traditional Weavings

Using alpaca, sheep, and llama wool, the Quechua and Aymara employ ancient weaving techniques to produce textile pieces with traditional cultural designs inspired by community myths and spiritual beliefs. The Quechua and Aymara believe that their textiles tell the story of their history, reflecting important changes such as colonization. Each textile product represents careful dedication and takes at least 15 days to complete. Following a time-intensive process passed down from generation to generation, the Quechua and Aymara shear the wool from the desired animal, apply natural dyes, then begin the long manual process of spinning to create yarns, which are then used to weave beautiful and warm scarves, blankets, hats, and sweaters among other cold-weather accessories.


Asociacion de Artesanos Indigenas Zenu

Caña Fleche Art

Caña fleche is a tall grass native to the north Atlantic coast of Colombia that grows to over sixteen feet tall. The Zenú make use of the entire plant: the roots are utilized as a diuretic and to prevent hair-loss, the stems are cut to make fences and roofs, and the fibers are processed to make products such as handbags, jewelry, and clothing. The production process has been passed down from generation to generation and involves entire families. Men cultivate caña fleche while women hand-make the final products. The leaves of the caña fleche are sorted and the veins are extracted. Then the fibers of the plant are dyed with natural dyes derived from local plants, bark, seeds, and herbs. Black and white are the traditional colors of caña fleche products, but today the Zenú make crafts in a number of colors. Once the fibers are dried they are braided and woven by the artisans in unique patterns that are representative of Zenú culture. Believing that they would be relegated to the level of machines if they were to follow specific step-by-step patterns, the Zenú make each caña fleche product unique.


Association for the Improvement of Women's Status - Lakia

Desert Embroidery

Embroidery is an art that Bedouin women learn as children, passed down from generation to generation. Because of embroidery's long history as a woman's role in Bedouin society, it is also a socially acceptable way for women to earn an income in a community that usually prohibits women from working outside of the home. In the past, women embroidered dresses, using colors and motifs that signify a woman's age and marital status. Today, these motifs have been adapted for modern use and the bright colors and geometric designs are replicated in pillows, bags, cards and other practical items. Typically, women embroider squares at home and finishers employed at the Lakia center sew them onto a variety of products.


Baladarshan

These brightly colored toys are handmade entirely from natural materials of southern India. The artist uses vegetable dyes to paint designs onto carved Ankuda wood, which is sustainably harvested by communities throughout the region. The color is then preserved with lacquer made from heating sap of the Rosewood tree.


Cambodia Volunteers for Community Development

Ikat and Traditional Silk Weaving

For over a thousand years, Khmer silk weaving has played a fundamental role in Cambodian art and heritage. During the Khmer Rouge regime, however, all forms of art such as traditional silk weaving and woodcarving were destroyed. In an effort to restore the national cultural identity, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts began in 1993 to encourage Khmer artisans to revive the silk weaving industry using traditional Cambodian techniques. Over the last five years, Cambodia has seen a great increase in the quantity of producers, quality of silk fabrics, and interest in the art form.

Most of the motifs and designs used in today's silk fabrics have seen little change over the centuries. According to traditional Cambodian customs, different patterns translate into a variety of meanings and purposes that might refer to rank in society, age, gender roles, or celebrations. Ikat, meaning "to bind" in the Malay language, refers to the traditional silk patterns as well as the style of weaving used to create the patterns. The technique for ikat is known as resist dyeing in which the weaver tightly binds sections of crisscrossed thread before dyeing it. The sections that are most tightly bound resist the dye and thus, through repeated tying and dying, elaborate designs are created. The major ikat patterns found in traditional Khmer silks are Sampot Labauk, Paeleap, Onlunh, Sarong Sot, Choro Bab, Hol and Phamuong.

Hol and Phamuong Textiles

The traditional patterns of Hol and Phamuong are a staple to Cambodian dress and can be found abundantly in silk textiles from Cambodia. Hol is an ikat defined by its myriad of designs in a single piece of fabric. Since it is so intricate, weaving Hol is considered a difficult and time-consuming technique. Phamuong is a solid colored piece of silk fabric characterized by a subtle and contrasting shimmer. It is often made into more than 30 colors which specifically refer to the day of the week. For example, blue symbolizes Friday while dark red means Saturday.

The silk tote bags from CVCD offered at Global Goods contain both of these traditional Khmer ikats. Each tote is made with a Phamuong exterior and decorated with a center strip of unique and elaborate Hol, which gives this bag and its carrier a feel of Cambodia's heritage and its struggle to revive the art of silk weaving.


Community Friendly Movement

Lacquered Ankudu Woodcrafts

The dye for the lacquer used by Etikoppaka's artisans is derived from various trees and plants, which are powdered and boiled to form thick lather. The concentrate is cooled, filtered, and mixed with lacquer that has been slowly heated in an open oven. The colored lacquer is then stretched, cooled, and cut into small sticks. The lacquer is now ready to be applied to a chiseled and sanded ankudu wood product, such as a toy, bowl, or bangle. Dried leaves of the mogali plant are rubbed on the surface of the wood, which spreads the color evenly and gives a glossy finish to the product.


Comunidad Winay

Ceramic Art

The beautiful ceramic pieces created by Comunidad Winay artisans are expressions of each artist's unique style and personality. Made entirely of clay, the farm animals that this artisan group is best known for are carefully designed, sculpted, and hand-painted with dedicated attention to detail.


Craft Link

Vietnam produces a variety of crafts including pottery, weaving, embroidery, carpentry, lacquerware, and mother of pearl work. The Ta Oi, a Vietnamese ethnic group that Craft Link supports, is famous for its zeng cotton textiles that are colored with natural vegetable dyes. The colors and woven motifs are often complemented with mother of pearl. Silk production also has a long history in the region. GGP sells a variety of purses made from 100 percent Vietnamese silk.


Dambadeniya Development Foundation

Talipot Palm

The leaves of the Talipot palm tree, a plant indigenous to Sri Lanka, are used widely in household production in Sri Lanka because the leaves are both durable and quick to regenerate. Production with Talipot palm leaves is eco-friendly because it involves completely natural resources and hand labor. To make baskets from Talipot, the palm leaves are cut from trees just before they mature and are then boiled in water with pawpaw leaves to whiten the original palm leaves. After drying in the sun, the leaves are woven together to make baskets, mats and other products. Historically, the versatile leaves have been used for writing paper, palm wine, roofing, fans, and boxes.


Foundation for Development of Needy Communities

FDNC's most recent project, Bye Kamahono ("Something Created by the Hands" in the Lugisu language) is a comprehensive art and design center, which invites talented local artisans to train students in the production of art to sell locally and internationally. The program has created a showroom space and retail store in Mbale town. Participants use grass, bark cloth, banana fibers, natural dyes, tree leaves, sisal, and other sustainable materials to make handmade cards, wall hangings, and other art pieces. Depicting scenes of the daily life in rural Africa, the cloth batiks and greeting cards are dyed and hand-painted in vibrant hues. Women of the community paint the images using watercolors while younger students glue and assemble the greeting cards. Participants in this income generation project also receive primary healthcare and life skills training.


Friends Handicrafts

Nepali Felting

Felt is the oldest form of fabric known-predating knitting and weaving. Felt is made by wetting wool with soap and water and agitating the fibers to stretch them into all sorts of items like shoes, socks, bags, coats, and even shelters (like the Yurts of Central Asia).

 


Friends International

Creative Recycling

Friends-International products are all made by the parents of former street children and/or children at risk. The program allows parents to earn an income so that their children are able to go to school rather than work on the streets. Products made by Friends-International are hand crafted from local, recyclable materials that can be easily sourced by the producers. With an environmental consciousness, Friends-International favors production processes that minimize their environmental footprint, including the use of found and recycled materials, making each product unique. Recycled materials include newspapers, comics, magazines, packaging, rice bags, tin, and sarong fabric. The bags available for purchases from the GGP website are made from colorful newspaper comics collected from the French embassy in Cambodia. Seventy percent (70%) of Friends-International's sales price is paid directly to the producers while thirty percent (30%) of the sales price is reinvested in a social fund for families to promote the long-term sustainability of the project.


Gone Rural

Lutindzi Grass Weavings

For centuries, the rural people of Swaziland have harvested the tough lutindzi grass, which grows in rocky outcrops high in the country's ancient granite mountains, to make rope and other practical items. Adding some contemporary elements to this age-old tradition, Gone Rural's craftswomen have helped to revive an authentic Swazi crafts industry, creating distinctive baskets, mats, and other woven lutindzi products. Out of the reach of grazing cattle, women collect the wiry grass after heavy rains, carefully leaving the roots in the soil to ensure the regrowth of the grass for the following year. So as not to place an unnecessary burden on local natural resources, Gone Rural uses imported dyes to color the grass, as well as a specially designed fuel-efficient wood-burning tank boiler used during the dyeing process that has reduced the use of wood by more than 150 percent compared to the traditional method. Once the grass has been colored, women work in their homes or in village groups to create plaited and woven goods, which are then brought to Gone Rural's workshop for marketing and sale in Swaziland and abroad.

Clay Pots and Vessels

Once used for everyday purposes such as brewing beer or storing grain, traditional Swazi clay pots are now used predominantly for special ceremonies, or are sold as cultural artifacts. Despite the dwindling market for clay pots, a handful of master potters working near the capital city of Mbabne are keeping the tradition alive and teaching a new generation of potters. Swazi clay pots are made by coiling "fingers" of prepared clay around and on top of each other, then pinching them together into the shape of the vessel. This process is unusual, as no potter's wheel is used. When the vessel is nearly dry, it is burnished with a pebble to give the surface a polished look. It is then fired in an open fire on the ground for two to three hours. One woman can make more than 150 pots a month, earning three times the monthly wage recommended by the Swazi government for employed craftsmen.


Gulu la anthu Oluka and Partners in Health

Malawian Knitwear

Each knit and crochet item is handcrafted by a woman from the Gulu la anthu Oluka cooperative in Neno, Malwai. The cooperative includes former commercial sex workers seeking an alternative means of income, HIV-positive women, widows, those suffering from polio, and women caring for children orphaned by AIDS.


Ikamva Labantu

Dolls

During her long years as an anti-Apartheid activist, Ikamva Labantu founder Helen Lieberman often found herself looking for toys to keep the children of those present at meetings quiet so as not to draw the attention of police. In her search for dolls, Lieberman discovered that the only decent dolls produced in South Africa at the time had white skin. Recognizing the importance that children have dolls that look like them, she often stated that when Apartheid ended, she would find a way to produce beautiful and proud black dolls. Indeed, when Apartheid ended, Lieberman was approached by a woman in one of the communities in which she had worked who offered to help her start production. She jumped at the chance to encourage social justice while providing young children with a sense of self, and the organization quickly blossomed into a business that provides jobs and training for community members to produce a number of dolls and stuffed toy representations of African animals made from traditional Africa print fabric.


Joyeria Semilla

Seed Jewelry

Using Mother Nature as a supplier, the artisans of Joyeria Semilla create jewelry using seeds, stones, and other natural materials that they themselves collect from their local environment. All of the jewelry is handmade and the designs are a combination of traditional Colombian seed art and modern trends.


Kachin Women's Association Thailand

Kachin Weaving and Textiles

Kachin weaving and textile making is a centuries old craft. Patterns and styles differ widely across Burmese ethnic groups. Kachin cloth stands out with its bright flowery and checked designs and silver and gold thread embroidery. These styles are embodied in the miniature dolls made by Refugee women along the Thai-Burmese border and sold by GGP. Each doll's body is made from tightly wound thread; the clothes are hand-woven with traditional Burmese cloth; and the faces are hand-painted. Through teaching Kachin women the skills to make these dolls and other crafts, KWAT works to preserve the culture of an exiled people while empowering women to take control of their lives.


Kandahar Treasure

Afghan Embroidery

Women from Southern Afghanistan practice a rare form of embroidery with silk thread, Khamak (pronounced kha-mahk), an intricate art that involves counting the threads of fabric weave rather than drawing and copying patterns. This technique, inspired by Islamic geometric design and floral motif, is thought to be at the root of a number of embroidery techniques throughout South Asia and the Middle East. Due to the longstanding war, it is also an art form at risk of extinction. Traditionally Khamak was used to decorate the shawls of Southern Afghan men, table linens, and women's head-coverings. Today, the women of Kandahar Treasure build on these traditional motifs while creating new designs. They produce Khamak today as a vital source of income; a way of preserving a dying traditional art; and an opportunity to escape the stress of daily life and focus on creativity and beauty.


Karen Women's Organization

Karen Textiles

Pattern and color infuse traditional Karen textiles with meaning. For example, red signifies bravery; blue signifies faithfulness; and white signifies purity. Complex linear patterns and shapes represent symbols or concepts, such as the textured skin of the serpent, a likeness of which is woven into the cloth to protect the wearer. This rich cultural heritage is being preserved in the sewing cooperatives of KWO, where the women sewing can connect both with their artistic heritage and with each other.


Lahu Women's Organization

Traditional Lahu Garment Weaving

Lahu women have long been recognized as expert weavers. Adept at working on both traditional back strap and foot treadle looms, Lahu women hand-weave delicate patchwork trims and unusual embroidery work. Lahu weaving is unique in that the pattern appears on only one side of the cloth. Also, each Lahu tribe follows a distinct style of weaving.


Minga Peru

Jewelry and Accessories from Nature

Minga Peru trains women to create jewelry and accessories, such as tote bags, from renewable resources found in their local areas. Beaded bracelets are made from plants and seeds found in the rainforest. In most cases, artisans strive to use only materials that have already fallen to the rainforest's floor. Used to decorate textiles, embroidery is made with thread spun from fibers of the palm-like chambira plant. The thread is dyed with tree bark and other natural materials.


Niyishi Tribal Cooperative

A Truly Natural Jewelry

Tribal women from the mountainous Himalayan region of India handcraft all of the pieces in this jewelry collection. Each bead is made by drying and carving tree resin, polishing the beads individually to achieve a variety of textures, from smooth and shiny to rough and wooden. Tree resins are a renewal resource and an environmentally sound alternative to wood. The women carve the resin and infusing the designs with white pigment to achieve the patterns on some of the beads.


Pampa Brava

Chaguar Textiles

For centuries, Wichi women have used the strong fibers of the chaguar-a native forest plant resembling the yucca-to weave nets, bags, hammocks, jewelry, and other textile objects. They collect the plant, cut it with sharply pointed sticks, peal the leaves to separate the fiber, and spin the fiber to create a very strong yarn. They then dye the yarn using natural pigments extracted from roots, bark, leaves, and fruit. Traditional Wichi textile design uses ancestral symbols and patterns, reflecting cultural values and a deep relationship to nature and the environment.

Silver Jewelry

The Mapuche create replicas of ancestral silver jewelry, using techniques that have been passed down for centuries. Though appropriate for contemporary style, Mapuche jewelry pieces represent an ancient culture, charged with cosmic and sacred meaning still present in Argentine life today. Traditionally, the Mapuche believed that silver was derived from the moon and therefore sacred, making it useful to protect against evil and to bring good luck. The rattling of small dangling silver pieces was thought to enhance a woman's power and beauty. By continuing their age-old custom of making silver jewelry, Mapuche artisans are working to connect the past to the present, while maintaining the spiritual significance of their work.


Piel Acida

Tagua is the seed from the ivory-nut palm tree found in the South American rainforest. The smooth seed, also known as vegetable ivory, is found inside the large woody, burr-like fruit of the palm tree. Each fruit contains between 20-25 seeds. Once the tagua is removed, it is dried and the brown outer skin is removed, leaving a smooth white exterior that is similar to natural ivory. The seed is then polished and carved into intricate arts and crafts, including beads, jewelry, figurines, and even buttons. For the jewelry and accessories sold by GGP, the final step involves painting the tagua with natural dyes in dark, rich hues. Tagua has been recognized around the world as a renewable resource whose use promotes environmental conservation. In South America tagua harvesting provides a sustainable alternative to slash and burn agriculture, the leading cause of rainforest destruction. Across the ocean in Africa, the use of tagua as an ivory substitute has helped to save a shrinking population of elephants from being killed for their tusks.


Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy

The Papier Maché Craft in Punjab

The art of papier maché today a prevalent household craft in the villages of Punjab, originated in Persia, and was introduced to Kashmir in the 15th century, where it was adapted. The Kashmiri method, passed on to Punjab, involves first forming a pulp of soaked recycled paper with other recycled materials like cloth, rice, and straw. This pulp is left to dry in a mold for a few days, coated with lacquer, and then painted with intricate designs. Traditional designs, like those on PODA products, include flowers and Arabesque patterns, using silver, gold and red paint. Each woman spends between 7 and 10 days to create each item.


Pure Art

Gourds

Pure Art produces two lines of products from native gourds: food packages for sweets and decorative objects for the home such as the colorful tealights you can buy through GGP. The fruit from which the gourds come has a strong, round bark which hardens into a tough shell when ripe. During pre-colombian times, the community used this tough shell to make canteens called totumas to store milk and water while the pulp was used for medicine. Today, the community collects the gourds when they fall from the trees and leaves them to dry naturally in the sun.


Silk and Pepper

Cambodian Silk
Cambodian silkworms are unlike any of those from neighboring regions. A unique diet of mulberry leaves allows them to produce a quality silk that is supple to the touch. Each Silk and Pepper accessory starts with silk produced from these unique creatures. Skilled artisans dye and weave the silk fibers on handlooms, paying attention to every detail.


Siyath

Handmade Paper Production

The fragility of the Sri Lankan economy post-tsunami, is due in part to its need to diversify beyond coir production and make use of readily accessible materials. Among the skills training that Siyath initiated is handmade paper production. Papermaking is an important non-agricultural source of income and has the potential to employ a great number of people. In Sri Lanka, it is also an eco-friendly process as the paper is made from an abundant resource-elephant dung To produce paper, the raw material is sun-dried, boiled, mashed and then strained to purify and strengthen the material, and remove its odor. The pulp is then mixed with other natural materials like cinnamon, rice paddy waste, straw, and bananas leaves, and then flattened and dried between pieces of wood to create the final product. The stationery sets produced by artisans in Siyath's programs then use traditional block printing to stamp handmade sheets and envelopes with an elephant motif.


Streetwires

Zulu Wire Art

Wire art involves crafting art out of wire, beads, tin cans, and other found recycled items. While the origin of this traditional craft is not known, most likely, it developed in Maputoland and Zululand in rural Northern Kwazulu-Natal, in the northeast corner of South Africa. Lacking the resources to buy manufactured toys, young boys in these regions fashioned their own out of discarded hangers, tin cans, and whatever else they could find. In villages and townships today, one can see boys playing with model cars they made entirely from discarded materials. Recognizing children's ingenuity, older community members began making their own wire arts to sell to tourists-everything from jewelry to working radios. Today, ‘wiremasters' sell their creations not only on street corners and at craft markets, but also in upmarket shops and galleries around the world. Streetwires' wire art lends itself readily to being branded, thereby increasing the appeal of these products for promotional purposes and corporate gifts, an area that Streetwires has pioneered.


WE-ACT Ineza & Solidarate

Mothers of Rwanda Dolls

Beginning in July 2005, 25 women participating in the Project to Empower Vulnerable People were trained to create hand-made crafts to sell in the US market. The dolls they make are dressed in high-quality cotton fabrics of traditional prints and stuffed with recycled plastic sacks. These dolls have also led to several interesting partnerships in the US. At one of GGP's partner schools in New York, students volunteered to stuff the dolls, saving the women time and shipping costs.

Sale of these dolls is vital in generating income to purchase nutritious food, but a larger, stable customer base is necessary to generate significant funds. The more funds generated by sales, the more women the project can incorporate into its work.


Winay Warmis

When you purchase knitwear and crochet products made by Wiñay Warmis, you know that each item has been carefully handcrafted from high quality alpaca. Wiñay Warmis trains the women in knitting, providing them with a supplementary income, and increased self-esteem while allowing them to work from their homes on their own schedule.


Wola Nani

Artisans at Wola Nani make beaded bracelets and napkin rings, papier maché bowls and picture frames, decorative light bulbs and tea lights, and cards. Most products are brightly colored and certified "Proudly South African," a campaign designed to encourage the growth of socially responsible South African businesses.

Wola Nani's beaded AIDS Ribbon patches are a meaningful blend of a traditional craft with a modern symbol. The beaded square is a Zulu symbol for a love letter, and the colors used in its creation represent the hopes and desires of those who wear it. The red AIDS ribbon is beaded into Wola Nani's love letters to signify the hope and desire for widespread acceptance of the virus and a path to its end.

The papier maché bowls sold by GGP are made solely out of recycled paper. Each bowl takes about four hours to make. The design was inspired by a very popular South African fabric called shwe shwe, worn by the Xhosa people. Shwe shwe consists of white designs on a red, blue, or brown background. It is made with a very specific process in which fabric is fed through copper rollers with designs etched into their surfaces and covered in weak acid, bleaching the material in the design of the shwe shwe pattern.


Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment

Traditional Burmese Weaving and Embroidery

The art of traditional Burmese weaving has a 5,000 year history and its own distinct set of motifs, one of which is the series of horizontal line patterns called achiek present in the work sold by GGP. The women of WEAVE use vegetable dyes and traditional Karen and Karenni patterns for their cloth and thread. Weaving and embroidery skills and designs are passed down through generations of women. Roughly 300 women are involved in the weaving project, where they create greeting cards, bags, purses, scarves, and dolls. The project has an impact beyond income generation: it is a creative escape from the hard life of a refugee and a chance for women to bond with each other over their historic cultural traditions.