Ceramic Utensil Holders

Description

Add some style to your kitchen with these functional yet highly decorative Fair Trade Utensil Holders.

The beautiful patterns have been etched by hand in Nigaragua by using sharpened bicycle spokes in a technique called “scrafitto.”

Approximate size

16.5cm  tall x 10cm wide

These products are handmade so please allow for some minor differences.

Care

Clean with a soft cloth

Do not put in the dishwasher

How these Utensil holders are made

The ceramic utensil holders are made in Nicaragua from freshly collected clay on a traditional manual kick-wheel and fired on a large outdoor kiln.

They are masters of a very detailed geometric work that can be seen on these utensil holders. Each piece is gridded out on the vessel and then the surface is meticiously scratched using a sharpened bicycle spoke, a technique called “scrafitto.”

How you purchase can make a difference

Known as the “land of lakes and volcanoes” Nicaragua is also home to the second-largest rainforest of the Americas and a popular tourist destination. However it is also among the poorest countries in the Americas and 48% of the population of Nicaragua live below the poverty line, with 79.9% of the population living on less than $2 per day

Fairtrade benefits to communities

Your purchase will help support families like  Don Leopoldo Potosme and Sara in the ceramic community of San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua.

In this community house and workshop are often integrated as one. The home of Leopoldo and Sara is no different, and with nine family members sharing the space, they literally eat, sleep and breathe pottery. The Potosme family has four children, two of whom, with their spouses, help to produce the orders for Women of the Cloud Forest.

With the proceeds from their Fair Trade crafts they have been able to send their youngest son to medical school!

About the suppliers

Women of the Cloud Forest has been working in fair trade since 2001 and have direct, long-term relationships with small family workshops and cooperatives in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru. In addition to placing consistent orders with their artisan partners, they provide business training and product development/design and offer no-interest micro-loans and direct grants for workshop capacity building.

This holistic approach to business enables their artisan partners to grow their businesses and access new markets without creating cycles of dependency.