- Posted on 14th August 2014 by Nicola Holden
I have recently discovered a new online store that got me so excited that I wanted to share it with you, my lovely readers.
MadeEthical.com is a home furnishings and accessories business based in London. It was set up by co-founder Alex Pescott after a holiday spent in South Africa. During the trip he bought some beautiful souvenirs from local craftspeople and it felt so good to be helping the local communities that he wondered if there was a way to do more to help, and that was the inspiration for this very special online shop.
When I read MadeEthical’s story it really hit home for two reasons. Firstly they sell beautiful homewares on their website, which appealed to the Interior Designer me. And secondly, a portion of all the money they make goes to African charities, which appealed to the African Charity Trustee me.
Alex comments: “We identified several small, community based projects who understood local needs better and we started sourcing items directly from the people who made them, paying the craftsman an honest wage & turning them into positive role models in their communities. Of course we couldn’t source all our inventory from South Africa but regardless of what item a customer purchases from us, we will gift an item to one our community projects.”
Don’t you just love this range of handknitted toys, produced by Gogo Olive in my Zimbabwe? Gogo Olive started as a simple vision of a group of women singing and laughing together while creating things with their hands. It gathers around 60 women-knitters from four different projects in 3 different areas of Zimbabwe. As well as creating employment for local women the aim of Gogo Olive is to give them hope as they have the opportunity to use their craft skills to build a future for themselves and their families.
So there you have it – feel good shopping at your fingertips! What are you waiting for?
“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank
Image credits from MadeEthical.com.
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- Posted in Charity, Interior Design 2 Comments