Trade As One

This year we’ve been fascinated by the idea of Just One. We’ve been brainstorming with our producers about new ways to express how important Just One Fair Trade purchase can be, and we’ve come up with some exciting numbers and stories that we’ll be sharing here on our blog every day for the next week or so. We’ll be talking about how our Christmas purchases here in America can provide health care, education, food, and other necessities for the women and men making the products that Trade as One sells. We’ll be uploading new products and stories every day, so make sure to check back, and please share these posts with your friends!

Just One Medium Telephone Wire Bowl - Two months of tuition for the child of an artisan in South Africa.

Many of the products Trade as One sells have an element of artistry about them, but these telephone wire bowls are just bursting with creative expression. Each bowl is hand-woven from telephone wire in South Africa, and preserves the artistic and cultural traditions of the region. We often ask people to smell the bowls, because they each smells faintly of a wood fire. These artisans hand-weave the bowls in their homes, where they often cook over a wood fire, and the bowl absorbs a bit of that smell. We like the thought that a little bit of the artisan’s home travels across the Atlantic and now adorns a home here in America.

The income received from these bowls allows the artisans the income to take care of their families. One medium telephone wire bowl gives them the chance to send one of their children to school for two months. It’s a unique opportunity to enjoy and handmade, unique, beautiful piece of homeware, and in the process support artisans in South Africa.

Click here to see all of the Telephone Wire Bowls available here on our site.