A new twist on Fairtrade

Each week, Shared Interest will highlight a business who is activiely promoting Fairtrade in their community. This blog post does not imply endorsement by Shared Interest. Please contact us if you would like the ‘spotlight’ on your company.

Craft Village UK is an accredited member of The World Fair Trade Organisation. They work directly with artisans in poor countries developing acclaimed, income-generating, animation inspired products.

It is the mission of Craft Village to improve the working and living conditions of crafts people and their families, and promote fair wages and job creation via their exclusive, sustainable, copyright protected product lines.

They launched their Kenyan ‘Simpsons Statues’ in February 2009 after 3 years of development. Their unique mix of Fair Trade and animation-art has received great reviews; from CNN, The BBC, The United Nations Development Programme, Sir Bob Geldof, Matt Groening and many others.

Their debut range is boxed in eco-friendly packaging that includes bespoke ‘Simpsons’ artwork, and a 12-page educational booklet showing who makes the statues, how they are made, where, and who benefits from the income generated.

This exciting collection has strong appeal to two specific markets; the growing Fair Trade market, and the massive ‘Simpsons’ collector’s market, -worldwide 60 million people watch The Simpsons each week. They were therefore delighted to secure worldwide sales rights for their statues from ‘The Simpsons’ Licensors 20th Century Fox.

They recently signed a deal with US based distributor and a major U.S. Collectables Company has already expressed interest in selling their range -which is extremely promising. If this deals comes to fruition it could secure years of work for their producers and have a significant positive effect on hundreds of families in the Tabaka region.

They have also signed a distribution deal with Amandla, a WFTO accredited company in The Netherlands who are currently growing sales in Holland and other mainland European countries. Customers can also by purchase direct from Craft Village via www.craftvillageuk.com.

Developing and launching such a unique project has been a challenge, with many obstacles and false starts along the way. They’ve met each challenge with competence and confidence, and feel very excited about the potential impact Craft Village can achieve in Kenya, and elsewhere.

They recently started development on their next product offering- a series of animation themed bronze statues that will be manufactured by Asha Handicrafts- a WFTO accredited supplier in India.

Craft Village’s unique product concept is transferable to many animation and film properties. To date they have met with Licensor’s for Star Wars, Nickelodeon, Aardman Animations and 4Kids Entertainment, all have expressed interest in working with Craft Village to develop fair trade memorabilia for their brands.

They are proud to supply Simpsons’ fans with high quality animation art whilst simultaneously having a positive impact on many families in rural Kenya. It is Craft Village’s goal to become a genuine innovator within the fair trade and animation-art industries, and attract a new audience to the Fair Trade movement with their contemporary cartoon-inspired statues.

Product pictures, artisan profiles and video clips are viewable on www.craftvillageuk.com Enjoy your visit to their website. All enquiries welcome! Contact Paul Young on paul@craftvillageuk.com