All change!

It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole 3 years since I blogged on Global Fayre.

This summer was one of major change; Cheri and I have changed jobs, and we’ve moved the family down to London!

My new role is as Head of Business Incubation at Cockpit Arts which describes itself thus: “At Cockpit Arts we support extraordinary craftspeople making work in the UK. We are an award winning social enterprise providing the UK’s only creative-business incubator for designer-makers.”. Split over two buildings, we house around 165 makers of all disciplines, helping them to develop their business at the same time as providing them with a stimulating communal space for a reasonable rent.

Cockpit Arts also offer online resources for makers whether they are in our space or not.

The move also brings me far closer to the heart of the UK jewellery industry, and has already given me much more opportunity to invest time into moving the ethical jewellery agenda further. For any ethical jewellers reading this, please feel free to reach out to me for more information, or join our group in LinkedIn (fairtrade fairmined jewellery designers). There are some really exciting developments going on in the ethical jewellery space just now; more of that to follow in future posts.

First Friday Art Walk – Sept 5th

We’re delighted to have a double feature this month.

First off, we have the beautiful creations of Cheryl Draudt. Originally from Salt Lake City, Cheryl started to learn the challenging art of woodworking scroll shortly before moving to the Ozarks in 2000.

The pieces on display for First Friday reflect a natural wildlife theme, inspired by the beautiful areas that Cheryl has lived in, including Cougar and Cub, Wolf Pack and The Owl and Mouse.

bird-basket

Cheryl will also be on hand to describe in detail the challenging work that went in to each piece.

Alongside Cheryl’s exhibit, we have the wonderful sounds of Moonhoney.

Moonhoney is Grace Easley on viola, Adriana Jones on vocals/piano, and Ryan Flores on vocals/guitar.

The music is a mixture of classical, flamenco, rock ‘n’ roll, Latin, and jazz filtered through a melodically refined Gypsy-Tango style that is both elegant and enticing. Adriana and Ryan share the compositional workload, each bringing different themes and textures to the creative palette. Adriana’s smooth melodies create intricate soundscapes through which her voice flows like water and Ryan’s driving finger-style guitar and intense vocal prowess provide an excellent backdrop for his playful and poetic lyrics. Weave in the warm tones of Grace’s viola and you have a recipe for something truly unique: a tapestry of sound that you’re not likely to forget or hear anywhere else.

Books at Global Fayre

Books at Global Fayre We’re steadily adding to the range of the books that we carry at Global Fayre. Here’s a brief review of what we have at the moment. If you have any suggestions for other books that you feel our customers might enjoy, then let us know! Bella’s Chocolate Surprise (Adam Guillain and Elke Steiner) $8.95 It’s Bella’s birthday and Mum’s made Bella her favourite chocolate cake. But just what is chocolate made of and where does it come from? With the help of her friend the Quetzal bird, Bella harneses the powers of her mystical pendant and flies to Ghana in West Africa to discover much more than she bargained for. Fair Trade:A Beginner’s Guide (Jacqueline DeCarlo) $14.95 Author and activist Jacqueline DeCarlo explains the principles behind Fair Trade and its development into a powerful economic tool. Packed with inspiring ways to make a difference, this book will encourage readers of all backgrounds to help end poverty, environmental destruction, and human exploitation. The Conscious Consumer: Promoting Economic Justice Through Fair Trade (Rose Benz Ericson) $3.95 Helps the reader to: understand how Fair Trade relationships enhance the quality of life for producers; interact with a global community taking action to ease inequalities wrought by traditional trade structures; discover the growing array of fairly traded products now readily available. Extending the Table: Recipes from Argentina to Zambia (Joetta Handrich Schlabach) $21.00 An opportunity for cooks to learn about our world and its wide variety of flavorful foods. Sit at the table with people you have never met, taste the flavors of their food, feel the warmth of their friendship, and learn from their experiences. Simply in Season: Recipes that celebrate fresh, local foods (Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert) $21.00 Providing recipes and reasons to eat seasonal foods grown locally. Eating in season is a great way to improve your health, support local farmers and help the environment. Simply in Season Children’s Cookbook (Mark Beach and Julie Kauffman) $21.00 Each season this cookbook takes you out to the garden, into the kitchen and around the table to enjoy fresh food. Fun with food from garden to table. More-with-Less (Doris Janzen Longacre) $21.00 Suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world’s limited food resources. the world of street food (Troth Wells) $19.95 Sizzling, stirring, frying – delicious fresh street food served up in a trice before your eyes. Now you can cook real fast food at home with these 100 best recipes from around the world – easy, quick dishes sampling the deights of street food. The Bittersweet World of Chocolate (Troth Wells and Nikki van der Gaag) $19.95 For many people, one of the most enjoyable pleasures is a delicious piece of chocolate. The The Bittersweet World of Chocolate explores the story of this delectable food, as well as offering 50 recipes from around the world. It reveals an eventful history and explains why more of us are buying Fair Trade chocolate. Tree of Life: The World of the African Baobab (Barbara Bush) $7.95 Describes the life cycle of a tree that lives on the African savannah and the insects, birds, and animals that reply on it for home, food and survival. Illustrated by breathtaking watercolors portraying the sparse African landscape.

Uplifting Humanity thru Harmony

One of the unexpected joys of opening the doors to Global Fayre was that we would get to hear about some of the fantastic things members of the Springfield community are doing to ease the plight of less fortunate people around the world. It seems like every week brings us in to contact with a new person, project or group working with a community in need. Sometimes the community in need is close to home, often it is on the other side of the world. Yet hearing the story always brings that community closer, and makes their plight more real, refuelling our commitment to help them help themselves.

A group that has recently emerged in Springfield is Ethiopian Child. Their mission is to bring aid to the hearing-impaired children of Ethiopia. These children are nearly always neglected, often abused or worse, and are in desperate need of the basic things in life; food, clothing and education. Ethiopian Child holds its first fund-raising event this evening (June 17) with a gig at the Gillioz called Uplifting Humanity thru Harmony (tickets $10). Starting at 7:00pm, there’s a great line-up, with performances from Alea and Alexa Kilgore and Alexander Washington, and talks from Patrick Mureithi and Sesha Shannon.

If you do make it to the concert tonight, and want to make your donation go even further, save your half of the ticket stub and show it when you next come in to Global Fayre. 10% of whatever you spend on that visit will go to Ethiopian Child.