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Haiti’s artisans getting lots of attention and new buyers
The country’s artisan community is attracting high-profile collaboration
from well-known designers and retail stores
BUSINESS MONDAY
Decade of Latin America?: Despite global volatility, many say they’re
still optimistic about the region’s opportunities.
MIAMIHERALD.COM/HAITI
Read the latest news and stories out of Haiti
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
JCHARLES@MIAMIHERALD.COM
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Sketch pad in hand and an oversized papier-mâché
handbag hanging off her shoulder, fashion icon Donna Karan walked the
workshop floor, checking on samples while giving creative feedback to
workers on their handiwork.
Far from the couture runways of New York’s Fifth Avenue, Karan was in
earthquake-battered Haiti in August, picking up the last samples for an
exhibit in Berlin, Germany that was to showcase Haiti’s artisans. It is
the craftspeoples’ skill and talent that’s helping to drive the country’s
reconstruction after last year’s devastating earthquake.
“This place is amazingly creative,” said Karan, standing amid dozens of
Caribbean Craft employees quietly at work making Christmas wall décor
with paper, water and glue made from locally grown yucca. “It really is
inspirational.”
After years of watching their once-thriving sector slowly die as U.S.
buyers and others pulled out and turned their sights to China, Haiti’s
artisans are enjoying a resurgence as high-profile supporters like Karan
champion their creative talents while helping them develop new products
and attract potential new buyers. The endeavor is part of a broader
effort taking shape in post-quake Haiti to make foreign aid less about
handouts and more about empowering Haitians by creating jobs.
“When I work as the co-chair with the prime minister of the Interim Haiti
Reconstruction Commission, we have to focus on the problems to be
solved,” former U.S. President Bill Clinton said during a recent visit,
highlighting the sector’s economic possibilities. “But over the long run,
the answer for Haiti is for each and every Haitian to be able to make a
decent living doing something he or she is good at.”
Clinton, a supporter of Haiti’s artisans long before the quake brought
greater attention to their plight, believes the sector has the potential
to help Haiti build a modern economy.
That belief has led his foundation and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund,
formed after the quake at the request of President Barack Obama, to
invest in the sector by providing grants and loans to small and mediumsize businesses. The money is being used to expand and boost jobs to meet
the growing demands for intricate metal works, papier-mâché ornaments and
vibrant beading designs.
While some of the money have gone to help individual companies replace
workshops destroyed in the quake, others have gone to help strengthen the
sector as a whole.
For instance, a grant from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is helping to set
up several artisans’ networking depots throughout the country. Operated
by Haitian entrepreneurs, the depots will offer artisans help with
everything from product development to export forms to the packaging and
shipment of orders.
Meanwhile, a new factory by philanthropist and Diesel Jeans Canada CEO
Joey Adler in Croix des Bouquet will put profits back in the community.
It will feature an intricately designed fence — a work of art itself —
made by local metal workers in the area. The factory will also have a
showroom where the artisans can exhibit their work for prospective
buyers.
These are part of the effort to add value to the artisans’ work and
ensure that investments have a lasting effect, say supporters.
“We’re hoping that Haiti as a brand will rise,” said Willa Shalit, chief
executive and founder of Fairwinds Trading, a consultant on the depot
project who has spent the last year connecting U.S. retailers and
designers with Haitian artisans. “There is creativity in Haiti that is
incredibly magic and very powerful. Yes, eventually it can be imitated in
China but it won’t be the same, any more than if they try to imitate
French wine.”
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kelly kettle
Please read the story K KETTLE at http://www.12stepplanet.com
Like Reply
14 hours ago Report Abuse
sinbadsailor
People are buying this garbage? LOL! In your dreams.
Like Reply
14 hours ago 2 Likes Report Abuse
Ligero1
F*cking MORON.
Like Reply
11 hours ago in reply to sinbadsailor 2 Likes Report Abuse
eviterlescontrefacons
Excellent artisan decor! Thanks for this positive article.
Haitian crafts are currently showcased in high-end boutiques and
catalogs. Check out Anthropologie, Ballard Designs, Wisteria and Viva
Terra. Even uber-chic Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel's are carrying these
items - and customers are buying them by the truck loads!
Like Reply
13 hours ago 1 Like Report Abuse
Ligero1
It won't be long before the racist scumbags like Nixon2012 and Tea Party
Fix and the rest of the RIGHT WING COWARDS say something really MORONIC
on this story.
Like Reply
11 hours ago Report Abuse
lsly95
phlpn.es/7x9vmd
Like Reply
4 hours ago Report Abuse
kamoken1
For more on Haiti's real needs see, A true Marshall plan for Haiti By
Glenn Hubbard, The
Financial Times:
http://solutionshaiti.blogspot...
Like Reply
2 hours ago Report Abuse
Damsi
It is simply fantastic that this is going. Thanks to foreigners like
Bill Clinton and Donna Karan. It would have been revolutionary, if
Haitians themselves ages ago saw this potential and made the best of that
industry as well as others that have been dying or dead. I agree with
Clinton that "“the answer for Haiti is for each and every Haitian to be
able to make a decent living doing something he or she is good at"
Sadly, it seems to always require a foreigner to show us the thing that
is actually perforating our very eyes!!!
Like Reply
2 hours ago 1 Like Report Abuse
mark jacobs
it would be great if the reporters went outside and took photos of what
this place looks like and what it is surrounded by [tents, filth, etc]
just a humble suggestion
Like Reply
2 hours ago Report Abuse
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/13/2501183/haitis-artisansgetting-lots-of.html#ixzz1dhmLmlGn