News & Views: The By Hand Blog
Fairtrade Fortnight & The Big Swap - February 2010
The 22nd February 2010 to 7th March 2010 is Fairtrade Fortnight. Two weeks where everyone is invited to go fairtrade crazy. This year the theme is The Big Swap: There is a fair trade version of almost everything these days and you can make a massive difference to the lives of small-scale producer groups and individuals reliant on selling their goods for survival by swapping your coffee for fairtrade coffee, your tea for fairtrade tea and your chocolate for fairtrade chocolate.
But these are just the obvious ones. How about ditching highstreet stores and switching to fairtrade jewellery and accessories, fairtrade clothing, even fairtrade shoes. Then there's fairtrade bags, fairtrade paper, and even fairtrade furniture. The possibilities are endless, but you have come to the right place to make a start: By Hand sells a great range of fairtrade jewellery and fairtrade eco-friendly bags, so you can start your Big Swap right now, and say goodbye to mass-produced goods benefitting only distant shareholders and fat cat directors, and hello to fairtrade accessories, where your purchase can make a real difference to someone's life.
By Hand plays an active role in the fairtrade movement in Leeds and will be appearing at a number of events in Yorkshire during Fairtrade Fortnight, including the Leeds University Fair Trade Fair on Thursday 25th February, the Beehive Fair Trade Fair in Chapel Allerton on Saturday 27th February, and the York Fair Trade Market in Parliament Street, York, from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th March.
If you want to get involved in fair trade and help to make a difference to third world producers, come along to one of the fairs and find out more about fair trade and all the lovely fair trade goodies that are now available.
A Treat for the New Year - January 2010
Happy New Year! We hope that 2010 is a fabulous year for everyone. In order to help add a little shine to the often dull post-Christmas period, By Hand has a great offer: If you buy a pair of Sterling Silver Filigree Earrings / Sterling Silver Spiral Earrings / Sterling Silver Wire Ball Earrings / Sterling Silver Crescent Earrings (see below) then you will receive one of the highly popular Cream Flower Bracelets (worth £6.50) absolutely free with your order. This offer is available throughout January. To benefit, simply order whichever of the four styles of fair trade earrings you like most and we will include a beautiful Flower Bracelet in your parcel.
And one final bit of news: By Hand is extremely proud to have been accepted as a member of Ethical Junction. The Ethical Junction badge which is now displayed on the By Hand homepage attests to By Hand's continued commitment to ethical policies concerning the environment and fair trade. Further information about Fair Trade and the By Hand Ethos is available on the By Hand website.
Christmas Treats, Events & Facebook - December 2009
Only two weeks until Christmas and only one week to get your Christmas orders in with By Hand. All orders must be received by 5pm on Friday 18th December or they will not be dispatched in time for Christmas, so get your skates on! Our Christmas Treats page has been online since the beginning of the month and features a range of specially selected items perfect for Christmas gifts, so if you are stuck for ideas that is a good place to start.
If you happen to be lucky enough to live in the Leeds area then you can pop down and see the By Hand products for yourself. Saturday 12th December is The Stalls craft fair held in Chino Latino (next to BHS). We will be there from 10am to 4pm so do pop inside to escape the crazy hordes of people on the streets of Leeds city centre. Meanwhile, on Sunday we are braving the cold at Pudsey Christmas Market. We are hoping for sunshine, if not we will be welcoming all donations of hot drinks! The Christmas Market is organised by Artsmix and features a whole range of fabulous arts and crafts by local talents, so it is definitely worth a trip.
And finally, if you like what we do, why not join our Facebook page for updates on events, new products and general By Hand news. Just click here and become a fan!
Eco-friendly Bags and Christmas Trade Fairs - November 2009
Christmas is fast approaching and we are delighted to be adding lots of new products to the By Hand catalogue over the coming weeks. A fantastic range of eco-friendly bags can now be found on the website: These bags are made from all sorts of quick-growing natural materials such as rattan, lontar palm, raffia and agel leaves. We also have two bags made with pieces of recycled batik (traditional Indonesian patterned cloth) AND all of the bags are fair trade. The bags are very limited in number so if you like what you see make sure you get your order in quickly - once the bags have gone we will not be able to replace them until after Christmas. (In line with our environmental policy we ship our products by boat rather than using air freight.)
Aside from the new products, By Hand is happy to announce that it will be participating in two events in Leeds over the coming month. We will be at the MyCatalyst Christmas Soiree on 11th November and will also have a stand at the Leeds University Fair Trade Fair on 24th November. If you are in the area then pop along. We will be offering a number of fantastic products that cannot be found on the website so it is definitely worth a trip.
By Hand products on display in Leeds! - September 2009
September has been an extremely exciting month for By Hand and the latest development comes courtesy of the How Bizaar scheme, run by Sharing the Success in Leeds, which provides space for local businesses to display their products for a 12-week period. By Hand is participating in this scheme and a selection of products from the By Hand product range can now be viewed at the How Bizaar stall at Leeds Kirkgate Market. So, if you are in Leeds, pop round to the How Bizaar stall and have a look at the By Hand products. Other businesses on show include a very talented milliner, a local craftswoman and a local artist.
Meanwhile, the By Hand Sale is still on but time is running out, so make sure you buy all the sterling silver earrings you want before Thursday 30th September, when the 20% off deal expires.
NEWSFLASH: By Hand currently being featured on the Shared Interest blog.
The September Sale - September 2009
The September Sale is here! 20% off all of our fair trade sterling silver earrings throughout the month. Visit our catalogue to see the fantastic savings that you can make with this offer.
NEWSFLASH: FREE STANDARD DELIVERY WHEN YOU SPEND OVER £40!
News, reviews and progress – August 2009
We are now a few months into the By Hand journey and we have lots of exciting developments to report.
Reaction to By Hand and the fair trade products on offer on the By Hand website has been extremely positive. We have received some fabulous customer testimonials, a few of which can be seen at the bottom of the homepage, and if you have bought something from By Hand we would love to hear from you - just fill out our contact form. Reviews can also be left on By Hand’s page at Shobby – an online shopping directory, at the Free Index, or at Qype.
We have also been getting involved in local and national fair trade movements and are a member of Fairtrade Towns – a social networking site for everyone working with and/or interested in fair trade. It is an excellent resource for meeting like-minded people and for learning about all the interesting projects that are going on across the world.
Finally, we are already starting to gear up for Christmas: Our sterling silver spiral earrings are to be included in Living Ethically’s Christmas review; and we are also looking to extend our product range to include packs of fair trade gift wrap, additional items of jewellery and fair trade bags.
We will keep you informed!
10 Things You Need To Know About Bali - July 2009
For those of you not lucky enough to have seen Bali for yourself, here are our Top 10 facts about the beautiful island:
1. The island of Bali is part of the country of Indonesia.
2. Bali is just one of the 6,000 inhabited islands amongst Indonesia’s 17,500 islands, which makes Indonesia the largest and most populous country situated only on islands.
3. Beside its stunning landscapes, Bali is also famous for its artisans and craftsmen who produce a vast array of wooden carvings, stone carvings, painted art, silverware and handicrafts. Visit the By Hand catalogue to see some examples!
4. Although Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, Bali is home to the majority of Indonesia’s Hindu minority: more than 90% of the island’s 3-million-strong population are practising Balinese Hindus.
5. Most of the Balinese population belongs to the lowest Hindu caste known as Shudra. The nobility is divided into priests (Brahman), the military and ruling royalty (Kshatriya), and merchants (Vaisya).
6. The Hindu-Balinese population believes in reincarnation. Babies up to six weeks old are treated with reverence as they are thought to have the soul of a reincarnated ancestor.
7. The Balinese build shrines for spirits believed to live in large trees. Artistic offerings are made with flowers and fruit. Rice is also offered to the gods and spirits.
8. Wildlife on Bali includes squirrels, deer, monkeys, wild pigs, geckos and snakes. The island is also the habitat of around three hundred species of birds such as kingfishers and bee-eaters. Meanwhile, the warm sea is home to many colourful fish living around the coral reefs.
9. As a result of the growth of tourism over the past few decades, Bali is one of the wealthiest provinces in Indonesia. However, Bali’s economy suffered heavily when two terrorist bombings struck the island in 2002 and 2005. The tourism industry is now slowly starting to recover.
10. Even though the tourism industry has been the island’s core economy for the past decades, rice and coffee cultivation is still ranked as the island’s top employer. Balinese rice is harvested from the famous subak irrigation system and Balinese coffee is processed using wet methods, resulting in a sweet, soft coffee with a good consistency.
[Courtesy of worldinfozone.com and wikipedia.com]
Welcome - June 2009
After many months of hard work, we are ecstatic to finally be launching By Hand. Our aim is to give small-scale local producers in Bali an outlet for their beautiful handicrafts and jewellery, and, with By Hand, we hope to be able to offer them long-term stability and financial security.
We are firm believers in fair trade and ethical business principles and as such are working together with an WFTO-registered company in Bali, which in turn works with the local producers and ensures that they are given a fair deal.
We are also looking to work with ethical companies within the UK to further enhance our service. Many of our items are packaged in beautiful jute bags, supplied by the Natural Bag Company – a company based in Scotland that offers eco-friendly, natural bags and that is a member of the Ethical Junction. Smaller items are delivered in boxes made in the UK from recycled card and paper from sustainable resources. Meanwhile, our gift wrap features exquisite handmade, fair trade lokta paper, from the Himalayan hills of Nepal. This paper is supplied by Paper High, a UK-based company that offers a range of beautiful fair trade paper and stationary.
As you can see, although it is Balinese handicrafts that form the core of our product range, we are always looking to work with ethical, UK-based companies to improve our service to you the customers. On that note, we would love to hear from you. If you have any questions, queries, ideas or thoughts that you would like to share with us then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
We are at the beginning of the By Hand journey and we expect the road ahead to be full of surprises. Above all else we hope that with By Hand we can help to make a difference, both to the producers in the villages of Bali and to our customers, by providing something different and worthwhile.
We hope that you will accompany us on our journey.
