All G.R.O. Artisans jewelry 20% OFF - Givings Thanks sale with Etsy

The women of the G.R.O. Artisans Collective have teamed with Etsy as their first international supplier with a beautiful collection of handcrafted and unique jewelry items. The pieces are made from a mix of locally sourced materials, such as mountain clay, prcupine quill, and cow horn, as well as upcycled products including glass bottles and paper products.

Until Thursday you can purchase any of these pieces for 20% off as part of the Giving Thanks Sale. This is one of the first chances many of you have had to purchase the jewelry that you have been asking so much about.

Give thanks this season with a gift of empowerment!

Posted under The Movement

The G.R.O. Artisans Collective was delighted to present a gift to the Queen of Lesotho from their 2010 collection for her birthday on June 2nd. For a long time, the Artisans had been looking for ways to get the Queen, who was born and went to school in their community of Hlotse, involved in their work, so this was a great opportunity to do so.

The gift that was presented for her birthday featured locally sourced porcupine quills and recycled glass elegantly mixed in with Tiger’s Eye to create the beautiful Lefats’e set. Not long after her birthday, feedback was sent to the Collective through the Queen’s brother who had been our liaison. This was not just a ‘post birthday thank you’ you might expect; She was so excited by the elegance of the local design that she sent the Artisans a purchase order for even more jewelry!

She asked for a hand crafted custom order of three sets of jewellery  made in the colour blue. You can imagine the excitement that filled the Collective upon receipt of the order. The artisans sat down to design the sets and they came up with pieces that featured recycled glass, mountain clay, and paperbeads. Her response was very positive and we hope that the relationship with the Queen will grow stronger now that we have earned her support of the beautiful work that theArtisans do.

‘Me Motseoa Seutloali

G.R.O. Artisans Collective Coordinator

Posted under Letters from Lesotho

The past few weeks have seen some really exciting developments for the G.R.O. Artisans Collective. We have managed to sit down with ‘Me Mots’eoa, the Artisans Collective Coordinator, for a brief chat to update us all on what has been going on.

Lumela ‘Me! Welcome to your second G.R.O. Q&A – thanks for taking the time out of your day working on financials to hang out for a few minutes. Ok, here are your 3 questions….

Both the G.R.O. Lesotho Programs Team and the G.R.O. Artisans are about to move into a much larger office, still in the BEDCO Leribe complex. What does the new office space mean for the Artisans?

Well, the new office is very exciting for the Artisans particularly because we will centralize our space to include the retail space, the workshop, and my office with the Programs Team. There will also be a larger space that we are hoping, in future, can be dedicated to a space that Bo ‘Me can bring their children to work. As mentioned, we will be able to divide the retail shop and provide a more private workshop space. The new office and retail space gives the Artisans a greater chance to improve on their customer service and retail experience skills. The whole thing is a lot more convenient with a lot more space.

The Artisans recently had a pretty high ranking visitor to the retail shop – who stopped by and how did they hear about the Collective?

The Ambassador to the United States recently visited with his family. Ambassador Nolan had heard about the Collective from one of his daughters who had met us at the most recent Maseru Bazaar where we were selling jewelry. She took a flyer and ended up telling her mom. They were both impressed and visited our website to do a bit of research on the Artisans. From there the family decided to drop in to see the women and the workshop. The Artisans were ecstatic that they took the time to visit and purchase a few pieces of jewelry – I want to make sure we thank Ambassador Nolan and his family for the support!

That’s amazing! Congrats on the expanding customer base! In other big news the Artisans seem to have established a Royal connection – can you please update us all on what exactly I’m talking about?

Queen Masenate Mohato Bereng Seeiso recently received a birthday gift from the artisans - a jewelry set specially made by the Artisans in a custom bag made of local fabrics which was hand delivered by her mom. The Queen happens to be from Hlotse so we wanted to surprise her with a small gift. She gave us some really positive feedback that was sent to us through her brother. In fact, she was really impressed and she wants to purchase a few additional pieces. She has just ordered a customer set of 3 pieces that will match her seshoshoe in blue – the seshoshoe is the national traditional fabric and is worn at special events by Basotho women. This is of course big news for Bo ‘Me as it was really quite unexpected and we are hoping that this relationship that has been established with the Royal family will continue and that our queen will be a strong advocate for the Artisans showcasing their work at a number of events. I think we are all hoping she will eventually make a visit but we’ll have to wait and see!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

The G.R.O. Artisans invited their local and international customers to participate in a selection survey which ultimately determined the new 2010 design lines. The women have been working since December on the new designs, incorporating locally sourced natural material such as cow horn, Job’s tears, recycled glass, and mountain clay.  The new eco-line is enhanced by the use of high quality materials and fastenings, creating a true artisan line highlighting the beauty of Lesotho and the talent of its artisans.

The new catalogue will be launched March 1 - join our newsletter to receive the new catalogue or contact us at artisans@grofoundation.org to learn more about ordering!

Bracelet features recycled glass, amythest, Job

Preparing for the customer survey

Turquoise necklace for 2010

Posted under Letters from Lesotho

The artisans visited a youth project in South Africa that produces unique and beautiful recycled glass beads.  This youth project, in a poor township of South Africa, provides youth in the community with not only skills and training but an opportunity to earn income.

The lampworked beads, made from used beer bottles and made one-by-one, present a beautiful shine and the kiln-fired recycled glass shows a earthy, matte finish.

Look forward to seeing these new beads in our 2010 eco-line to be launched March 1!

Posted under Letters from Lesotho

Yesterday we collected 17kgs of beads that we ordered from our South African wholesaler as part of the start-up kits for the G.R.O. Artisans Collective.  Today we spent hours unpacking, counting beads, and dreaming of our new 2010 designs.  Thank you to the Canada Fund / Canadian High Comission for the purchase of the start-up kits, and thanks to the ladies for painfully counting every last bead.

Posted under Letters from Lesotho

Well, this week is shaping up to be incredibly productive and one of the most satisfying since my arrival here in Leribe. Not too many days into my stay I became very aware that the business environment functioned at a far different pace to that with which I was accustomed to. The differences in the pace of change and swiftness of communication have been a welcome adjustment as the level of face-to-face interaction is greatly enhanced bringing with it more moments of genuine conversation. For example, when arriving at a meeting of any kind, no matter the level of formality, there is a proper social sequence and code of conduct to follow. Upon arriving and greeting the individual or group everyone needs to take a seat whereupon introductions and background history will be laid out. As I am new to the country this is a process that is necessary even if you have previously met someone. The challenge to this business style is that I have already had to work on the required patience to allow for the system to function properly.

Even with some of these challenges I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish since my last post. Today was a milestone for The G.R.O. Foundation as the Artisans Collective and the bo-me(women) received their Associations Trade License from the Government of Lesotho to sell their products within the country. The significance of this license is that we can now expand our sales and distribution to help the bo-me build on their current successes. We are very proud of this achievement and want to congratulate ‘Me Mathabang and ‘Me Mamabula on clearing another hurdle.

Secondly, the Grannies Poultry Project and the bo-nkhono (grandmothers) invited me to present their first business training and savings seminar. These women have dedicated their time over the past year to the success of one of their community’s first successfully run Basotho social enterprises. Having familiarized myself with the work they have already put into the project I was more than pleased to be their first presenter. The night was dedicated to some of the fundamentals including saving strategies to cover essential overhead costs, inventory management, bulk purchase discounts, and profit distribution to fund their social programming requirements. This is a group of bo-nkhono that are presenting an excellent example for the youth in their community and I am thrilled to be able to assist them in any capacity they require. The plan is to continue providing them with business training and assisting them to renovate their existing poultry facility. Please be on the look out for ways that you can get involved with the Grannies project as we launch our upcoming Gifts of Hope online catalogue.

To close out my post this week I want to emphasis that I am very fortunate to have had the chance to volunteer with The G.R.O. Foundation at such an exciting and fruitful period in its operations. To have the chance to work with so many motivated wonderful individuals on a daily basis is an incredible gift. To all of the friends I have met and all of the donors that allow us to expand the scope and capacities of The G.R.O. Foundation here in Lesotho – Kea Leboha!

Khotso Salang hantle.

(Peace stay well)

Thuso Selialia.

Jason Clark.

artisans@grofoundation.org

Jason, Mamabula and Mathabang working on the Artisans catalogue

Posted under Notes from Lesotho