A Different Memory Quilt: Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary

Donna Rae Gislason and Cliffored Eugene Biel

This year Memorial Day weekend was a special time indeed.  My parents celebrated their 50th anniversary in Wisconsin.  There was a big party organized by my brother and sister-and-law at a hotel, my sister had worked on invitations, sang at the reception, put party favors together, and I offered to make a memory quilt for my parents.  Ha!  I knew that it couldn't be big as their wall space is already loaded with the memories 50 years can accumulate.  And, as my mother told me many Christmases ago, "Please!  No more art!"  She just didn't know where to put it all and it ended up in drawers.

So, the challenge was to come up with something that they would want to display, that would not be too intrusive and that could reflect my genius.  Heh, heh.  I chewed and chewed and chewed on ideas.  The celebration was getting closer and closer.  (I had had TWO years to get this together, but of course....  procrastination is queen.)  I toyed with an idea of creating something that could be hung on the wall or folded into a box.  As my parents have had Christ and the church as the anchor of their lives, I was trying to figure out how to make a cross shape work in that way.  If you flatten out a box, it will look like a cross...  Well, I gave up.  I ended up making a "book" with memory pockets.

"50 Years", Memory Quilt by Rachel Biel, front

I transferred four of their wedding photos on to fabric and stuffed the inside with cardboard to stiffen the panels.  The panels are held together with vintage sari fabric and decorated with vintage lace and fresh water pearls.  The whole thing can be folded up and stored as a book.  One structural headache was figuring out how to make the piece stable enough to stand upright an yet have enough room to fold it up.  This was resolved by crimping the sari fabric at the top with decorative clamps, not pictured here.

"50 Years", Memory Quilt by Rachel Biel, back

The back of each panel has a pocket for memories.  I used vintage crocheted doilies to make the pockets.  Then, I sewed little sachets out of old photos, also transferred on to fabric, and stuffed them with lavender.  A friend from Brazil made a booklet for them which fits in the pockets and an aunt also came up with a little collage.  The pockets also hold all the cards they got at the reception.

Each panel was machine quilted, front and back, before I assembled them together.  The tricky part was flipping the panels once the sari borders were added.  I closed the tops with  a fiery red trim that also has some symbolism, at least for me.  Flames often adorn the tops of Mexican religious popular art.  In this piece, these are the flames of love.

"50 Years", Memory Quilt by Rachel Biel, detail, cake

Cliff and Donna Biel, September 2010

Fifty years is a long time to be married, especially nowadays when 25% of couples in the United States choose to live together in partnership rather than being married.  My own marriage only lasted for four years.  Are my parents soul mates?  Their personalities are very different from each other, as are their interests and hobbies.  I'm sure that this has been a source of frustration from time to time, but I cannot imagine one without the other.  All of us are rather eccentric, difficult people in our own way, but at the core of their marriage is the belief that their union is holy, set apart to do God's work.  Within that framework, they bend and accept and work towards becoming a better partner for the other.  It is not a perfect marriage, but one that I tried to emulate.

"50 Years", Memory Quilt, detail, Hope Lutheran Church

A year after they were married, I was born.  Six months later, they took off to Brazil for 18 years of service as Lutheran missionaries.  They were 24 and 26 years old.  Babies, it seems now.  They went through language school, immersed themselves in a culture that experienced profound transformations while they were there, and gave each of us a childhood we will never forget.  I have started to document some of this in my blog, Biels in Brazil.

Biels in Brazil

Relatives whom I had not seen for years and years came to the reception, a wonderful reunion!  One of my aunts brought a gift which was very exciting for me and this blog that I am working on.  She had saved the letters my mother had written during their early years in Brazil.  Loads of them, packed with interesting information of life in Brazil during that time.  I will slowly transcribe these letters to that blog.

Another highlight at the reception was a viewing of the dress my mother wore for her wedding.  The dress had originally been made for my aunt LaVonne, who married my Dad's oldest brother the year before.  Stan and LaVonne are my godparents.  Many years later, Laurie, their daughter, also wore the dress in her wedding.  My sweet niece, only 11 yeas old, modeled the dress and all former brides posed with her.

 

Wedding dress with former brides.

Fifty years points to one undeniable and inescapable truth:  we are all aging.  My parents are now in their 70's, I am approaching 50 and my brother and sister agree, "Yes, my hips hurt, too."  We have almost lost my father twice now, once to a diabetic coma and once to heart disease.  We came together to celebrate a life well lived, while lurking behind that joy is the certainty that we will also come together to bury one another.  Who will be around ten years from now?  We don't know.  What we do know is that their love for each other and for each of us empowered us to come into our own selves fully and with courage.  Within our flaws, weaknesses and failures, there is also the certainty that we have been loved, accepted, forgiven and blessed.

Was my gift a success?  My father wrote me in a thank you note:

"Dear Rachel,

The celebration of our golden was golden indeed.  Thanks for being a part of it.  We appreciate all of the hours of work and creative effort it cost to make the quilted family panel you made.  We will always cherish it.  Donna is already making plans of where she wants to take it and who to show it to.

You children are all so special to us!  Each is so different from the other.  Each is gifted in a different way, yet the bonds of love and faith hold us powerfully together.  

Again, thank you!

Love, Dad



Yes, it seems that they liked it.  However, I am the one who is filled with gratitude.  Mom and Dad, I thank you for those fifty years of love and example that the two of you have given us.

"50 Years", Memory Quilt by Rachel Biel, detail, Kiss

A Different Memory Quilt: Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary

Maria and Claudette: traditional and contemporary weavers share a platform on TAFA

TAFA member, Whitney Taylor, (Little Mango Imports)

works with Mayan weavers in Guatemala.

Whitney with Sovesteña in Panajachel

Maria lives in a village in Guatemala.  She weaves brightly colored fabrics which will make their way to the American and European markets.  She also works on traditional huipiles, the blouses worn by women in her village, when she has time.  Maria has been to the capital a couple of times and visits relatives in nearby towns, but mostly stays in her village and likes it that way.  She knows how to read and write, has four small children, loves to laugh, and dreams of having a new fence built around her garden so the chickens will stay out of it.

Claudette also weaves.  Her work often depicts contrasts between light and dark, using urban themes that reflect her life in Paris.  She zooms in on a car's headlight, a hand on a door, high heels on the sidewalk...  sometimes there might be splashes of red, alluding to blood or violence.  Her work is not "pretty" and it will take that special collector who will want to buy it.  Claudette has exhibited internationally and traveled around the world .  She has no children, sometimes she drinks too much, and she definitely wishes she could stop thinking all the time.

 "Big Green Barn" by TAFA member Laura Foster Nicholson

Maria and Claudette are fictional, just made up characters in my mind, but symbolic of the range of women represented by TAFA's membership.  TAFA: The Textile and Fiber Art List is a project I started earlier this year.   Launched in February, the membership has grown to 115 working artists and fiber related businesses.  TAFA's main mission, to provide its members with access to larger markets, has at its core an intentional agenda of bringing Maria and Claudette together, sharing the same platform and audience.  These two women have little in common aside from the materials they use to execute their craft.  Their personal interests, how they spend their time, and the goals they have for their lives reflect not only the physical distance that separates them, but the cultural expectations their peers have of them.  They do, however, share a form of sign language.  If they stood side by side with their looms, they could speak to each other and learn from each other through their threads, the movements of their hands, and the final products.  A language only weavers would understand.

Both also share in the need for a market that will support their work.  Maria might be represented by someone like Whitney Taylor (first photo), or by TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles who work with weavers in Laos and Thailand.

Traditionally, the two weavers, Maria and Claudette, and those who represent them, would have looked for their markets in very different places.  Maria does not have computer skills nor access to galleries.  Her weaving would be described as a craft and would not qualify for most competitions.  Claudette would have to put a portfolio together, have professional photos taken and either look for high end customers on her own or have a gallery represent her in doing so.  Their markets and the words used to define who they are and what they do have been as separate as their physical worlds.

 "Koch Snowflake Fractal"  
Univeral Language Series 

by TAFA member Donna Loraine Contractor 

I've worked with handmade crafts from around the world for over twenty years.  Even now, I struggle with what words to use when I describe a product.  Is it art? Craft?  Handicraft?  Folk Art?  Traditional? Contemporary?  We are struggling with these terms on TAFA as well.  The middle column has a list of labels titled "Themes and Places".  Intended as an index, key words describe the mix found in TAFA's membership.  We decided to use  "Member Made" as a way to describe a member who makes their own work.  "Cultural Textile" describes members who are representing a group.  The challenge lies in keeping the list short enough to make it usable for those who visit the site and yet inclusive enough to cover the different kinds of work represented on TAFA.

Even worse: how do we describe Maria and Claudette?  Is Maria an artist? Fair traders often refer to people like her as "producers".  Claudette would certainly have a fit if she were labeled a crafter.  The divide that has separated these two has historically come from an ethnocentric position that, I believe, is fundamentally racist, classist, and must change.  Maria might actually have better technical skills than Claudette.  What makes her work less valid in the art world?  One might argue that she lacks imagination in design, that she is simply replicating work that has been done for centuries in her village.  Yet, many contemporary weavers are not weaving powerful, moody work like Claudette's.  They are interested in the materials, patterns, look of the weave itself.  TAFA member Laos Essential Artistry has an interesting video which tries to address this tension between the artist, creativity, and the relationship to the product itself.  In my mind, we stumble in trying to perpetuate this divide:

Why racist and classist? Because if the same work were made by an American, a Parisian, or an Australian, it would be called art and, a key point here, the price would also reflect it.  I believe that we have been passive about giving credit where it is due.  We believe that it's OK for the Marias of the world to live on minimal income generated by their skill while those of us who live in the "developed" world can charge what we consider a fair wage for our work.  Sure, there are many issues that affect the price point of a weaving or textile:  materials used, intricacy of detail, age, the currency exchange rate, creativity, fame, and so on.  But, the same debate that has raged on in the quilting arena also rages here.  Quilters debate what is art or craft all the time.  So, now we have "art quilts" which have their own shows and juried criteria, separate from "traditional quilts".  And, again, definition often makes a big difference in price point.  An Amish quilt may sell for several hundred dollars while an art quilt with the same skill level may enter the market for several thousand dollars.  It's a matter of how we perceive and define our selves, our work and those around us.  But, when it comes to Maria, I believe that most of us think it's OK for her to earn less because she is a peasant, lives in a hut, doesn't have much education and should just be grateful that we are helping her by buying her "stuff".



Fortunately, things are changing for Maria and other like her.  Several global trends in these last twenty years have decreased the supply of cultural crafts.  Industrialization, war, natural disasters and migration have all affected the production of traditional arts world wide.  It used to be easy to get gorgeous, intricate embroideries from any of these villages for almost nothing.  Travelers who became small importers brought these goods to market and appreciation for them grew.  Now it's hard to find the older stuff and we have to pay more for current work.  Less people are also making the traditional work, opting instead to work in factories or as maids or in the hospitality industry for secure pay and possible benefits.  War and natural disaster have disrupted village life around the world.  As less of the vintage textiles have become available, more efforts and recognition has been given to those who have the ability to perpetuate these age-old skills.  We also see more exchanges happening between the Marias and Claudettes, increasing market receptivity by developing products that use the skills, appeal to elite markets and generate a higher ticket price.  Escama Studio in Brazil is one such example.  Low income women crochet clothing and accessories out of pop tabs:

Women like Maria are traveling more, seeing how a Claudette would interact with their work. Novica carries their purses, selling them for a couple hundred dollars each, accompanied with a photo, bio and quote by the artist.  The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market sponsors traditional crafters from around the world every year.  They are called "artists" on their website and literature.  HandEye Magazine offers a glorious exploration of materials, techniques, and overwhelming eye candy from around the world.  They make no distinction between traditional and contemporary.  It's all crazy and all good.  FiberArts Magazine always has a section dedicated to traditional cultural crafts, although their focus is on contemporary textile art and craft.  The trend moves towards inclusion and recognition.  We need this to happen in order to both preserve the knowledge the Marias have and to encourage the vision a Claudette might bring to the medium.  We still have a long way to go, but all of us can help redefine what the platform is that we share with each other.  It starts with exposure, by standing next to each other, and continues with the dialogue that is in our hands, that sign language that we can speak through our craft.  Finally, it matures when all of us can make a decent living through our work, have our basic needs met, and know that life as a working artist can happen here, in Paris or in a village in Guatemala.

 Alia Kate with Fatima

TAFA member, Kantara Crafts, 

works with weavers in Morocco.

Interested in becoming a TAFA member?  TAFA members all have an established web presence.  They are working artists, textile or fiber related businesses, authors, collectors, or gallery owners.  For more information, check out the Membership page on our site.

Maria and Claudette: traditional and contemporary weavers share a platform on TAFA

A Pilgrimage to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

If I were to go anywhere in the world as a pilgrimage, my choice would be the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. I can't think of another place that would be a Mecca of all my interests in culture, people and the wonderful things they make. Sure, there are many other folk art festivals that would be interesting, but this has to top them all! Every year I hope I can go and so far I haven't been able to afford the trip. You see, it's not only going there and experiencing the environment that would thrill me, but I also would want to buy, buy, buy!!!! Someday it will happen!

Meanwhile, you go. Go be my eyes and ears and report back about how much fun it was! Tell us all about the wonderful people you met and what treasures you bought. The Market will be loaded with all of the ingredients to make anyone clap with joy, dance with delight and participate to their heart's content. There will 140 artists present representing 41 countries! You can travel the world just by walking around! Workshops, ethnic foods, live music and cultural presentations combine to make this a world event in one of the most interesting cities of the world.

Here is a video from last year's market:



My biggest joy would be to interact with the artists and see them at work. The International Folk Art Market's website has a full listing of those who are scheduled to come with a bio of their work. I picked a sampling just to give you an idea of the wonderful diversity of both regions represented and the work they produce, although I have to admit that even though I love all craft forms, I do tend to gravitate towards the textiles. The photos and text belong to the Santa Fe International Folk Art's site and I am quoting a partial bio just to entice you over to their site. Click on the Artist's name to see their full page.

Hugo Yucra Quispe Paricela and Rosa Ticaona Vilca

Peru

Artisan Committee of Centro Poblano de Chijnaya

Chijnaya Foundation

Embroidery

The Andean village of Chijnaya was born after a flood in 1963 devastated villages near Lake Titicaca. As part of the resettlement project, and through the influence of Peace Corps volunteers, the concept of having the children embroider scenes of daily life took hold. What emerged were “bordados” employing hand-dyed alpaca yarn embroideries soon captured world attention and on a ground of “bayeta” or hand-woven simple weave woolen cloth.

Hind El-Arabi

The Palestinian Territories

Sulafa Embroidery Shop/project of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency

Embroidery

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency runs a self-supporting embroidery program which employs over 500 refugee women in the Gaza Strip to produce articles to sell at the Sulafa Embroidery Shop, helping preserve valuable traditions and increasing family incomes.

Moussa Albaka

Niger

Silver and Gemstone Jewelry

Moussa Albaka is from Niger, Africa, and as a metal-smith he designs gorgeous jewelry using sterling silver, Tuareg silver and semi-precious stones. His techniques include engraving intricate geometric designs, using decorative inlay, and a lost wax process.

Nino Kipshidze

Georgia

Georgian Textile Group

Embroidered, Woven and Felted
Textiles and Objects

Nino Kipshidze, founder and president of The Georgian Textile Group (GTG), has been involved in crafts since her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. GTG is an association of artists, designers, researchers, art historians, and ethnographers working to revive and improve the quality of Georgian folk textile art and craft and to support artisans works and by creating an international market for their work.

José Francisco Borges

Brazil

Tesoros Trading Company

Woodblock Prints and Chapbooks

José Borges, one of Latin America’s most celebrated folk artists, wields his knife and piece of wood in his humble workshop, attracting collectors and curators from around the world. Considered an unlettered folk poet, Jose has more than 200 cordel, or chapbook, titles to his name and is still writing.

Yuzhen Pan

China

Minority People Textile Folk Artists Cooperative of Southwest China

Weaving, Embroidery and Batik

Yuzhen’s family continues to farm in Guizhou while she lives part time in Beijing working in an embroidery workshop and selling Miao textile items at an open air market.

*****

As you can see, each artist comes with a story, a life-line that connects them to their region. It will surely be fascinating for anyone who can make it to the festival. But, I also think this is such a profoundly valuable opportunity for all of the participating artists. I have worked in multi-cultural groups for many years and remember how disturbing it was to me that each group has its own set of biases, misconceptions and stereotypes that can lead to racism and narrow-mindedness. This is not only about white people learning about the world and "helping" through their dollars, but instead, contact and interaction opens all people to a larger world filled with new opportunities. We all have the need to both give and receive, to teach and to learn, to share and to grow and this makes the world a safer, healthier and more dynamic place to live.

If you make it to the Market, please report back here and tell us how it went! Or, if you like to write, I would love to have your experiences documented in a post. Take lots of photos and share them with us! Someday I will make my pilgrimage, but until then, enjoy yours!

Visit the Santa Fé Convention and Visitors Bureau for travel info.

***

A Pilgrimage to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

"Honey Island", A Yo-Yo Textile Piece by Rayela Art

"Honey Island", a Rayela Art textile piece.

I actually finished Honey Island last November, but hadn't photographed it. I have a basket of circles that I've cut out to make yo-yos when I want something to do with my hands, watching TV or a movie... I kind of went overboard on it and have hundreds of these circles. For those of you who have never made a yo-yo, there is a tutorial here that uses a plastic mold, but I make mine the old fashioned way, turning the edge in as you sew, and pulling the thread to close the circle.

Close-up of yo-yos, stitching and cowrie shells.

Once I had a pile of yo-yos done, I thought they might look good appliqued on to contrasting circles that I had in my basket. The yo-yos shrink to half the size when they are closed, so the background fabrics were the original size I started out with for all the yo-yos. I used 32 discs for this piece, 3" in diameter, all hand-sewn, stuffed with polyfill, and then roughly stitched together with embroidery thread.

I used high-quality specialty fabrics from my "new fabric" stash. There is something wonderful about recycling salvaged fabrics into something new, but the fresh, bright colors worked well on this piece. I've been exploring textural dimensions in fabric and was really pleased with the results on this piece. I covered a piece of wood with fabric and stitched on some photo hangers for both stability and a way to hang the piece.

Back of "Honey Island", yo-yos made into wall art.

When working on the piece, I didn't really have anything in mind. No message, no hidden meaning. But, once it was finished, I felt the tropics come to me, bringing memories of the past. "Honey Island" a translation from the Portuguese "Ilha do Mel" is a beautiful island off the coast of Brazil. I have been there twice, but my first boyfriend, Toti, spent every moment he could there. The island finally caused his death. Toti and I grew up on the same street and had been friends since we were kids. I came back to the US for college and a life here, while he went on to become an environmentalist, fireman, physical education professor and life saver. The island was his haven. A skinny drop out type when we were teenagers, Toti grew into a strong, athletic, and powerful man. He could swim for miles and was a black belt in Tai-Kwon-Do. Think nature, green, vegetarian, earthy, smart, holistic, and loving and you might touch Toti's spirit.

Aristoteles Cesar Lamartine Melo in Rio, 1981

One day on Honey Island, Toti stepped on a rusty nail. He went off the island for a tetanus shot. It didn't take and within three days he was dead on a hospital table in our home town. Total organ failure. After all these years, his death still seems illogical to me. But, when is an early death ever logical? I was in Chicago when he died and several months later, I also stepped on a rusty nail. I was in the process of opening a gallery, Dara Tribal Village, with my former partner, Abdul. The building had been a meat packing warehouse in the early 1900's and we had been gutting it, painting, sanding the floors, and all that good stuff. I was alone and it was 1 AM. I called my nurse mother in a panic and she told me to go down to Cook County and insist I get a tetanus shot, which were actually in a national shortage. My shot took and I survived.

Honey Island, a small tribute to connections.

Toti didn't get to live to be an old man, but his life had been a full one. As I looked at my yo-yos and my stitching, I thought about Honey Island and in all the mysterious ways we are all connected, both in life and in death.

"Honey Island", A Yo-Yo Textile Piece by Rayela Art

Sisterhood: The threads that tie us together

She always wanted to be a princess when she was little, but as she grew, she put her hands to work. She can sew, embroider, cook, bake, garden, paint, fix things, teach, sing, play the oboe, piano, guitar, mend, launder, sweep, and make her home into her castle. My sister, Helen, celebrated her birthday a couple of days ago and I wanted to honor her with a post. A post as a toast!

My parents served as Lutheran missionaries in Brazil from 1962-1980. I was six months old when they took the boat down (literally), and Helen and Charles, my brother, were both born there. I am the precocious oldest, my brother the troubled middle child, and my sister, the spoiled rotten baby of the family. At least, those are the stereotypes about birth order and in our family, they do have a grain of truth.

Our environment growing up was surrounded by people and creativity. We learned that God is good, the Jesus loved us. We laughed until our bellies hurt and played freely and ferociously. We fought and were taught to negotiate our own disputes. I was often outraged by some injustice or another, Charles was allowed to be Daniel Boone to his heart's content, and Helen learned to be the peacemaker in a quiet and joyful way. I remember being thrilled when she was born. I would have someone to play with! But, she was almost five years younger and I soon lost interest and became annoyed with her tagging behind me, getting into my stuff. And, as she grew a little older, her friends tended to be younger than her while mine were older than me which increased the age gap even further. Charles and I shared more adventures (called "getting into trouble") together while Helen was Mommy's girl.

It would take many years for us to become true friends. I remember the day it happened. Dad had said something critical to me when I was visiting them while I was in College. I went upstairs, sat in a corner and let the tears fall down. Helen came up and sat beside me and said, "I don't know why he says things like that to you. But, I think it is because he loves you the most..." Who knows what really lies in the heart of a parent? But, from that day forward, my sister had a new place in my heart. A place I protect, a place I treasure.

When I look back on our old photos, I see a little girl that is joyous, happy, giggly, full of love and sometimes, filled with solitude. I wish that I had gotten to know her better back then, but I was too involved in my own friends and projects.

Little China Girl

Solitude

Gleeful, with Charles

The Patriot

Dream Land

Her namesake, Grandma Helen

At Grandpa Biel's

Cousin Mike

Helen grew into a beautiful, capable woman. She is a princess to us. This photo of the two of us, taken a couple of years ago, says a lot about who we are. I think it is pretty obvious that we are sisters, but do we have anything in common? I think about our skills. We are so similar in our abilities that there must be a genetic predisposition in what interests us. Although we grew up under the same roof, I left home when I was 15 and we matured in completely separate environments. However, our abilities translate into night and day results. The princess decorates her house with lace, floral wallpaper, and would love a romantic night in a Victorian bed and breakfast with her prince, David. The hippie's house is all tribal, full of boogie-eyed carvings, bold textiles and she would shrivel up and die in that romantic get-away.

Several years ago, Helen said, "Ummmm.... I don't want to offend you, but I'd like to return all the tribal things you've given me over the years. They bother me." I wasn't offended at all. We are different, to be sure. Yet, in that difference there is such a comfortable place, a knowledge of safety, a welcoming. I can tell her anything that is in my heart and know that it will be heard and that prayers will be offered up for me. In thinking of family as a quilt, my parents successfully sewed us together. All five us, Mom, Dad, Charles, Helen and I are each so different from each other but our stories come together in this blanket of love. We do share many common threads. Even though Helen and I are so different, I know that we could easily live together again (if we had separate decorating spaces, heh, heh). We always have plenty to talk about and even like some of the same books. The biggest thread that holds this family quilt together is the knowledge and acceptance of God's love. We can't debate theology or politics. Rotten fruit would fly quickly. Instead, we rest our eccentricities, lay down our weapons, and say, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest...." Then, when the whole family is together, we go outside, play croquet and all hell breaks loose.

Helen has her own family now. Neither Charles nor I will have blood descendants. She will be the story keeper of our roots. Our common memories will some day fade away as they should. Somewhere in the vast history of time and life, this thread of sisterhood and family will remain tied into a firm knot. Our threads will tie themselves to others, spinning a new story, creating that great tapestry of life.

My birthday wish for you, dear sister: May you always have people you love at your table!

Sisterhood: The threads that tie us together

Bazaar Brazil: Bringing Fair Trade from South to North

Brazil has had a long tradition of handicrafts. Most of the larger cities and metropolitan areas have what we used to call, "Feira Hippie", or Hippie Fairs. Many of the craft skills were brought by European immigrants, but these melded with both African and Indigenous influence into new interpretations of the crafts that are identifiably Brazilian. For example, the Portuguese brought bobbin lace making as an art with them during the colonial days. The skill spread up and down the coast among fishing villages, especially in the NorthEast. Lace techniques were used to make fishing nets, hammocks, bed spreads, curtains and other household items. In the 1970's, Brazilian artisans enjoyed a true renaissance in craft mediums. The craft fairs really were populated with the hippie generation trying to make a living from their cottage industries.

Imports from Indonesia, China and other countries almost devastated craft production as they could undersell the products of local artisans. However, with the growth of fair trade projects around the world and increased opportunities through online marketing and sales, Brazilian artisans found supportive audiences both at home and abroad.

Brazilians have three things in abundance that make fair trade products viable: excellent raw materials, an abundance of rural and urban poor who need work, and the entrepreneurial spirit that is necessary for project success. Bazaar Brazil embodies these elements in their wonderful selection of Brazilian fair trade crafts. Located in Redwood City, California (US), the shop is owned by two Brazilians who are doing their share to represent these artisans:

Mara Sallai is from the same area I grew up in. My brother was born in her city of Londrina. We had a brainstorming session trying to figure out if we had any acquaintances in common. We didn't, but we do share a love for Brazil and a hope that these crafts will empower the people they represent.

Bazaar Brazil focuses in on products that recycle waste and that are made by truly disenfranchised people. Many of the artisans are handicapped, have served time in prison, or live in areas where there is either no or very low-paying work.

Coasters, boxes and other objects are made from recycled wood by people with down syndrome.

Recycled polyester that are cast offs from large factories are made into textured pillows and throws.

Two of Mara's favorite products are banana fiber vessels and the Baniwa baskets. She describes both in terms of their local economic importance.

Baniwa from the Rio Negro- weavers of tradition

"The Baniwa basketry are made of "Aruma fiber" and have a sustainable feature - each cut fiber creates seeds for another two or three. The fibers need to be dyed before they are cut in under steam; the dyes are 100% natural.

Patterns of the baskets express their language and symbolize their environment. Authentic and without the touch of the western influence, the weaving tradition becomes a statement itself. Baskets can be used as storage units to help declutter your home, bottle and card holders, or bread and fruit displays. Each piece promotes indigenous design, culture; and helps provide protection to the Amazon rain forest.

Ethnic designs of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest cross rivers, waterfalls, distances and challenges to mark their significance in the "Western" market. Before arriving to the biggest city in the Amazon rainforest, the fair traded baskets travel 4000 miles navigating through three rivers and sixteen waterfalls."

Vessels made from recycled cardboard pulp covered with banana plant fiber.

Mara continues:
"In the interior of Minas Gerais (a Brazilian state), banana plant fiber and recycled cardboard pulp have changed the lives of a group of rural workers. The hands that once tilled the soil, crocheted or kneaded dough, now separate and and work the fibers from banana plants. Instead of making bread, they make papier machie. Their decorative pieces are winning the world over.

Sixty artisans now produce 800 pieces a month, on order. The decorative plates have found distributors in other Brazilian cities, Germany, France, Italy, and in our own California Redwood City, USA. They work within a cooperative system and have learned that the banana plant not only gives them fruit, but also sustains their families. They have also seen that their products fulfill both eco and fair trade principles."

Mara also works with individual artists. This one is from her home town of Londrina. The artist recycles used coffee filters as a canvas for her objects:

Many of the fair trade shops one sees around have been selling the same crafts for decades. Although they still play a vital role in the economy of the lives they represent, Bazaar Brazil offers a fresh selection of high quality handicrafts and decorative items. On the first page of their website, there is a link to a wonderful little video interview with Mara that shows the store and other products nicely. Bazaar Brazil does not have a web store, but I'm sure they would welcome your inquiries and if you are in the neighborhood, it's a must visit!

Bazaar Brazil: Bringing Fair Trade from South to North