Congratulations! By reviewing silver charms and jewelry findings, you’ve given a sheep to a family in need. Every product you reviewed helped a family receive training and a sheep that will help them become self-reliant. All over the world, Heifer partners are raising sheep to advance the cause against hunger and poverty.
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Silver Pendants support jewelry designers all over the world. As designers we share similar joys and challenges. Carmen Rosa Gamio Alvarez is a jeweler in Peru who recently received a microloan from Nina Designs. Reading her bio, I was struck by how much all of us have in common as jewelry designers, business women and moms.
Alvarez discovered her love of art early. “When I was a little girl, I liked to draw, and today I have a lot of fun designing and creating jewelry. I think it awoke the latent child artist in me.”
She adores her job. “The silversmith’s art runs through my veins and I love it…For me, my art is a fusion of fantasy and reality.”
She struggles with the high price of silver. “The rising price of silver is seriously affecting my work.”
And she relishes being a Mom. “Motherhood is greatest challenge in life and my greatest satisfaction.”
Sound familiar anyone?
Silver Charms from Thailand and Bali sold in the USA support the Asian silversmiths who make them, and the US designers who incorporate them into their own jewelry. Through our Micro-loan program, they also support creative endeavors in Africa. Evelyn Kafui Ahianyo is a mask carver in Ghana who recently received a loan from us. She designs the masks one by one and decorates them with paint, recycled glass, beads, brass and other materials.
“I sit and draw the mask creatively, and come up with the colors that will make it stand out. I’m also good at observing nature and this comes to bear when I have to sit and come up with designs after the mask has been carved. Although my masks have cultural references, I try to enhance the looks. In Ghana, mask are seen to have spiritual beliefs attached to them, so most people wouldn’t like to even hold them. But with the new coloring and designs, people are now comfortable with masks and are ready to learn more about the history associated with them.”
Ahianyo may not realize it but she has a lot in common with mask carvers in Bali who have their own village, Mas. I used to love sitting with friends while they painted their masks with intricate designs. I tried a few myself and made a total mess of it!
Ahianyo’s masks are for sale at Novica.
Silver Pendants are a main course here at Nina Designs but we also serve up Microloans. We believe strongly in supporting women artisans all over the world by helping them expand their businesses. For this endeavor, we have partnered with Novica to identify qualified artists and administer the loans. They also provide a thriving global marketplace where the artists sell their work.
Nyoman Nadri creates robes, bed covers, pillowcases, sarongs and shawls in Bali, Indonesia. She specializes in Batik, a resist dying technique that uses wax to create intricate designs. In doing her work, Nadri is inspired by people’s needs. Her customers come to her and request the kind of motifs they desire, and bed cover or sarong sizes they need. Selling through Novica has given her access to a larger market and allowed her to hire more women to work with her.
“Novica has had a positive impact on my family, as well as with the families of the women working with me. It means that we can have hope. We make the batik robes and we know that by selling them through Novica we can have a steady income to provide for our families”
Nadri will use her loan to stock up on white textiles and dyes for her batik work.
Batik Robe
Silver Charms are often worn for luck. In this case, sales of Nina Designs silver charms brought luck to a talented silversmith in the Andes who received funding in 2010 through our microfinance program. Giuliana Valz-Gen creates jewelry designs that deal with the richness of nature. ” My motivation comes from a desire to complement female beauty with my designs, which are infused with Peruvian artistry. What really counts is innovation. My designs speak of tradition yet they are modern and feature the harmony between metal, pearls and gemstones.”
Giuliana faces challenges many of us find familiar. “I am barely managing to cover my costs because these days the price of silver and gold seems to be going up uncontrollably. I set the price for a piece but by the time I’ve finished it, it turns out that initial price doesn’t cover my costs. It also means that the money I counted on to buy more silver and gold is not enough anymore. The loan would help me secure a good stock of silver and gold so I could carry on working calmly, without fearing a sudden change in the price of silver and gold, and be able to increase my production. It would also mean I would have the freedom to develop new designs, maintain the quality of my work, and still be able to cover my costs.”
Giuliana's Ring
Silver Pendant Sales at Nina Designs help support artisans worldwide. We believe that there is a special circle threading its way around the world from the sketches drawn in our office by women, to the women involved in crafting our products in Asia and back through the women jewelry designers who use our silver charms and silver pendants. In honor of this circle, we have established a microloan fund to help women artisans in developing countries foster and grow their businesses.
Cristin Carolin creates beautiful robes from handwoven ikat fabric in Bali. This special fabric gets its distinctive patterns through a process similar to tie-dye wherein the thread is wrapped in bundles, knotted and resist dyed before weaving. The knots must be placed with precision and the loom threaded just right for the correct pattern to emerge.
“I was born in Bali in 1973. What I do now is closely related to my experiences as a teenager. A family near my house made homespun clothes, and I was very impressed by the way they would spin cotton using traditional techniques. I used to sit there for hours just to watch how they worked. I was told that a garment company was a good place to start and I could work and learn how to weave and make dresses. So I went to the place and worked there for almost two years. I learned enough to make me feel confident about starting on my own. I set up a workshop and now, several years later, there are four other people working with me. My main product line features hand-woven ikat clothes. I plan to invest the loan money in materials so I can also develop new designs.”
Ikat Robe
Every Silver Charm counts! Even in this tough economy, it is important to stand by our commitments to help make the world a better place. With that in mind, we recently increased out microloan fund from $5,000 to $10,000. These loans are administered by Novica and have 0% interest. The interest rate is crucial because access to capital in developing countries is very difficult, especially for women, and rates can run up to 30% A MONTH! Since 100% of our 2010 loans were paid back, we were able to make loans to 10 new women artisans, many of them silversmiths in Bali.
Most of us can relate to this quote from Kenari, “The instability in the price of silver is really affecting me as an artisan. Silver is becoming so expensive that it is difficult for me to afford enough to keep a stock. I plan to use the loan to buy as much silver as possible to be able to continue doing my craft. I am constantly worrying about the rising cost of silver and whether or not I’ll be able to keep a strong stock that would enable us to replenish and meet orders.”
Kenari was born in 1979 in Celuk, a village famous for its gold and silversmiths. All of her family members work in silver. From the time she was very young, Kenari started learning the process of crafting silver jewelry such as rings, necklaces, bracelets and much more. Her days were filled by assisting her uncle in his silver workshop.
In 2003, Kenari married an artist from Gianyar. Balinese women who marry live with the husband’s family and so did she. Even after moving away from the silverwork environment, Kenari was still obsessed with crafting jewelry. Fortunately, her husband gives her great support. While working in an art shop, Kenari is active in designing silver jewelry. She is constantly busy developing new designs.
Kenari’s jewelry is for sale at Novica.
Earrings by Kenari
Welcome to our 125 new fans! We're sending Seacology $125. Thank you!
Part of the money from every silver charm we sell goes towards philanthropy here at Nina Designs. As many of you know, we pledged to give Seacology $1 for each new person who “likes” Nina Designs by Earth Day. Welcome to all the newcomers and thank you for helping us give to Seacology. They are a wonderful group of caring people working hard all over the world to protect and preserve island eco-systems and communities. While our campaign was not as successful as I hoped it would be, I am still proud to say we’re sending Seacology a check for $125.
While I have this opportunity, I wanted to let you know about Jewelers for Japan. They are a non-profit organization, established in March 2011, to aid the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Together with Red Cross & Rio Grande, they have come up with a simple way we can all help. Gather all your precious metal scraps, and donate them to the victims of disaster. With silver & gold at all time highs, we can all give generously by just donating our scraps!
Now silver charms and jewelry can not only make us look good but they can do good. Aside from our international charitable donations we are also striving to make local changes and do good right here in the Northern California. We recently became green certified which means we make even more Earth friendly decisions in how we run Nina Designs, like using only 100% recycled paper, never using toxic cleaning products, and about half of the Nina Designs staff bikes to work daily.
Recently Nina Designs donated a beautiful silver bracelet to a wonderful local organization: Breathe California! Breathe California’s mission is to fight lung disease in all its forms and works within communities to promote lung health. Breathe California is hosting its 21st annual Clean Air Awards on Friday, April 15, 2011, in the Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange in San Francisco. It will focus on positive initiatives that are being taken to reduce global warming and air pollution, with a focus on California. You may purchase tickets, or contribute to this cause here. Don’t miss your chance to bid on this beautiful Nina Designs bracelet and contribute to a great cause that effects us all.
In what small way do you practice being “green”?
Bid on this bracelet at the Clean Air Awards
Our Earth Day Eco-Pledge: Nina Designs will donate $1 to Seacology for every new person who likes us on Facebook by Earth Day, April 22nd. If you’re already a Nina Designs fan, share our Facebook Eco-Pledge with friends and family, then go to our wall and let us know you shared, and we’ll give $1 to Seacology for that effort too! Help spread the word so we can donate as much as possible.
A little bit about Seacology: They are a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the world’s islands and their cultures. Their efforts include 215 conservation projects on 116 islands in 45 countries around the world, protecting over 1.8 million acres of coral reef, rainforest, and other fragile island ecosystems, along with the wildlife they harbor. This includes 50 projects in Indonesia, protecting both marine and terrestrial habitat.
They do great things like building schools and health clinics in exchange for marine reserves, and setting up fresh water systems to villages that need it!
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