Gifts from Gaiam

From the fair-trade section of Gaiam’s website:

Pull this little funny car toward you a few times, then sit back and watch the fun. The energy you just stored in its flywheel will rocket it across the room with always entertaining results. Able to travel surprising distances and keep right on going even if it tumbles upside down, it’s an amusingly zippy lesson in kinetic energy kids (and kids at heart!) will never tire of seeing. Better still, all sales royalties are given to Projeto Mil Folhas, a vital 1,615,000 sq. ft. Amazon reforestation project. Zecar’s maker matches these funds to create a double donation that literally rides to the rescue of the rainforest. 2.5″ H x 2.5″ W x 3.5″ L. China.

Pakistani workers receive a fair, living wage to stitch these high-quality athletic balls; proceeds help at-risk kids around the world. Synthetic leather. Limited quantity. Pakistan.

These charming bundles of colorful fair-trade personality are handmade from recycled scrap clothing by industrious women residents of India’s infamous slums, who use the proceeds to raise their families’ standard of living. Each individual doll is a unique, appealing example of authentic Indian folk art. Dolls are approximately 15″H x 10″W. India.

Christmas Part II

You might want to consider—in addition to the items on the other pages of this blog—the following as gifts for yourself or friends and family.

Hair clip and necklace from North Style
Apron from The Succulent Wife	T-shirt from ThinkGeek

Christmas

How can I be thinking about Christmas in September? Well, I just got a gift catalog from the Art Institute of Chicago, and it is too beautiful to ignore.

One of the institute’s best buys has to be this book, selling for $9.95 and described at the website as follows.

Photo-Respiration: Tokihiro Sato Photographs

Trained as a sculptor, Japanese artist Tokihiro Sato (Japanese, b. 1957) turned to photography as a means of documenting his work. It is through his photographs, however, that the artist has found a way to successfully blend process and product.

This catalogue is one of the first records of Tokihiro Sato’s work to appear in the United States. This book reproduces 14 transparencies in rich duotone and features an essay by Art Institute curator Elizabeth Siegel. Also included is an interview with the artist, in which he elucidates his unique technique and discusses the relationship between photography and sculpture that he explores in his work.

Softcover; 40 pages with 14 duotone illustrations. 9 1/2″ x 8 1/2″

Knit octopus

From the website of a company called Branch, whose slogan is “sustainable design for living.”

manufacture: Each of these products is hand-knit by women who belong to a collective of knitters in rural Kenya. The collective is involved with the East Africa Hub, a non-profit organization comprised of socially responsible businesses that provide a link between artisans and the marketplace.

The importer of these products personally monitors for safe, dignified and healthy working conditions. Their commitment is to the welfare of artisans, to respecting and sustaining the environment and to promoting and practicing fair and open trade ethics and principles. By purchasing these handcrafted products you are helping to create income and ultimately a better life for these artisans and their families.

materials: Natural wool yarn, treated with natural vegetable-based dyes. Filled with acrylic.
dimensions: 12″ tall.
about: These items are handmade one-by-one; therefore, some variation is natural.