fair trade crafts

With skill and artistic spirit, Wayan Rendah captures a Balinese legend in this hand-carved statuette. It is told that Ni Kesuna betrayed her sister Ni Bawang, causing her to flee from her home. Ni Bawang ran into the forest, where in her sadness she prayed to God for mercy and protection. After hearing birds singing, she sang to them as if to God, and in response the birds perched upon her wrists, neck, and hands, giving her gold jewelry and a crown. After Ni Bawang returned home, Ni Kesuna became envious of her and tried to recreate the scene herself. However, she ended up with snakes instead of birds.

This excellent work is sculpted from local suar wood.

This lounging cat designed by Balinese artisan Nengah Sudarsana will make an excellent companion for sleepy Sunday afternoons. Hand carved in local suar wood, the statuette is painted grey and intended for a cozy bookshelf or tabletop edge.

"In West Africa, it is thought that the horse was the first creature to inhabit the earth," says Ghanaian artisan Salihu Ibrahim. Working in native sese wood, he carves a bearded man from the Dogon tribe on horseback.

Bare branches give shelter to a chickadee seeking refuge in a winter tree. Designed by John Barrow, this evocative wood sculpture is crafted by hand.

Arching her body, a lithe gymnast achieves postures of astonishing grace and skill. She places her palms against the soles of her feet in a yoga position. Made Wirata presents a suar wood sculpture that conveys the medium's inherent beauty.

Bowing low, a woman proffers an offering in a brown bowl. Her yellow and brown sarong is is painted by hand, and her body is carved of sese wood. Finished with colorful accents, this sculpture is designed by Victoria Agyepomaa in Ghana.

This sculpture, presented by Amporn, is hand-carved from rain tree wood, capturing the powerful majesty of the Thai elephant. Featuring a polished finish and tusks made from ivorywood, this beautiful image is relaxing and full of character.

"I want to show an elephant's happy feelings. It's real!" Thailand's Amporn presents a lifelike pachyderm with tusks carved from ivorywood.

Rowing its boat, the jailer transports the prisoners entrusted to his care. Walter Jose Acosta crafts an admirable ceramic sculpture following the artistic customs of the Moche people.

Yudi Suardi hand carves two patches of delicate mushrooms from jempinis wood to create this one-of-a-kind sculpture. The Balinese artisan uses a benalu base with a naturally flat bottom to support his carving, nestling two handblown glass vases among the mushrooms.

Wood carvers in San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, crafted animal figurines for generations before the area's alebrije tradition took hold, mostly as children's toys. It's the gorgeous way even real animals are decorated that shows how the Oaxacan artisans have truly embraced the handicraft style. This hand carved copal wood elephant from Jesus and Roxana Hernandez is hand painted in green, with elaborate geometric motifs on its legs and ears in black combined with lovely purple, pink, and blue tones.

It is said that Oaxaca's alebrije tradition descends directly from Mexico City artisan Pedro Linares (1906-1992). When he was 30, he became seriously ill and fell into a sort of coma. While he was unconscious, he had a most fantastic dream. He was caught between the land of the living and the dead; the place looked like a forest and was populated with creatures with body parts belonging to different animals. The creatures repeatedly uttered the word alebrije, and when Linares woke up, he recreated these figures in vivid colors using papier mache techniques and called them alebrijes. His work became famous and eventually influenced artisans in the state of Oaxaca who decided to craft alebrijes using traditional wood carving methods and according to that region's world vision.

A royal elephant duo is hand-carved of African sese wood to resemble a mother and child. This pair of statuettes from Ghana is accented with embossed aluminum sheet that resembles regal dress. Enoch Afram designs and crafts these statuettes, adding a distinguished antiqued finish. They are named Tweben Me, meaning "come close" in Akan.