Blog

December and January were not good months for us.  Brian got very sick following his return from Nicaragua in December eventually forcing an emergency room visit on New Years Eve.  Turns out he developed blood clots in his lungs from the trip and was bed ridden for 3 weeks.  That delayed many of the things we had hoped to do, but he is fully recovered and was able to travel back to San Juan de Oriente the end of February to help finalize the Spring orders and coordinate the shipping and processing.  Though the delay in shipping was unfortunate, it did allow us some time to get some needed supplies to the artisans and to allow some of the Nicaraguan pottery samples they were producing to be finished.  We will be previewing these in about 3 weeks for existing customers and we believe you will be very impressed with the creativity of our artisans and the new designs we will be presenting.

In January, we received a request from one of our artisans for an advance payment for the pottery we ordered.  This was in addition to the 60% deposit we give to all artisans when we place the orders to cover their costs for materials, a part of the labor, and other expenses necessary for the actual production. The family needed an additional $100 to buy the necessary uniforms and books for their children for the start of the new school year.  As a fair trade wholesaler, one of our responsibilities and an area of significant risk, is paying considerable monies before any work is even started.  However, seeing the direct benefits of this aspect of our relationships in the personal lives of our artisans is one of the reasons we do this type of socially responsible work and honor these types of request whenever we can.    

Our December visit to Nicaragua to visit our potters was great.  We spent quite a bit of time working on new designs for next year and upgrading some of the older designs that remain popular.  Rainy season ended in November so the intense heat of February and March had not yet begun, and everything was still green and blooming.  All of the artisans are anxious to get started on the new orders we placed.  It typically takes 3 months from order request till everything can ship to the US.  But dry weather definitely helps the proces.