Thailand

Exciting news here:::: Kelly has presented me an opportunity to travel with her to Thailand!! I'm planning on being there for 1 month. The first week I will be at a conference with Kelly in Bangkok, I will then travel to the north to visit a women's group called Population and Community Development Association or PDA. I will spend one week with then developing new products with local artisans. I will then fly down to the south of Thailand and spend one week with SHE Thailand and one week with the Duang Prateep Ban Thai Namchai orphanage and develop more products with them. The products we create will be sold at The Village Experience and their local markets. I will actually be there with the artisans developing products and searching for materials! Crazy huh??

The only stipulation with the trip is that I have to fund the entire thing. Therefore, I have created the brochure to help fundraise for the trip (to enlarge the brochure, just click on it). Many of you may have already received it via email or will receive it through the postal mail. Hopefully, through enough family and friends I will raise enough to cover my travel and expenses. If I surpass my goal, I will use the money to help build up the women's group. Please click the "donate" button on the right side if you would like to help! As most of you know, their needs are simple and a small donation can make a huge difference.

Please contact me if you would like more information regarding the women's groups I will be visiting or if you have any questions/comments!

Prototypes

I feel this week has been a big learning experience. I've started to realize and actually encounter the obstacles The Village Experience faces being a fair trade store-meaning how difficult it is to actually develop the products. Working in underdeveloped countries the access to various resources, materials and basic communication is extremely more difficult than in the developed world. Trying to develop new products in Kenya or in Thailand with local artisans is more complex than I ever thought. For the artisans to create the products we have in mind, we basically have to teach them ourselves. However, this is can't always happen as we are stationed in Indianapolis.

So this week, Molly and myself, have been in the process of developing prototypes for Kelly to take with her when she travels in Kenya in two weeks. Molly and I have been researching trends and products we feel could do well in our store and for the new wholesale line. Even though we feel a trend may become popular, we can not always produce it. As mentioned before, the artisans in Kenya have limited resources, limited materials and limited skill levels.

With that said, Molly and I came up with some simple designs that Kelly could teach the artisans. We designed a Chan Luu inspired wrap bracelet, a fabric necklace, a fabric bracelet, an eternity scarf, and a wooden bib necklace (inspired by Martha Stewert lol--even though I'll give credit to Sarah for showing me:)) Since these are solely prototypes the design and materials will have to actually be sourced when Kelly gets to Kenya. The designs will be altered and so will the materials. We just got our materials at Jo Ann's and well…you know they don't have a Jo Ann's in the remote areas of Kenya. Kelly will talk to the artisans to see what materials they have and then travel to the fabric factory to see their inventory. Above our pictures of Molly and I creating the products.

New Window Display

Since Kelly and Anne brought back so many new pearls, we decided to make a window display with them. Inspiration…"raining pearls."

To create the window, we took twine and tied it to hooks that were already attached to the ceiling. We then made three knots in the twine for the pearls to hang from. We thought it would look better with them hanging at different lengths. In order to see them from the sidewalk we had to put at least 6 to 10 strands of pearls. We also wanted to incorporate the new summer dresses. Therefore, we put the long dress on the mannequin with the new pearls and a beautiful sunhat. Just a reminder: the pearls are from Thailand, which is why the Thailand Book is also in the window. We were going to tackle the other window, but didn't have enough time. I'm sure we will do that sometime this week!

Zach's Party

At TVE we offer a service where you can schedule to hold an event at the store to help raise money for an upcoming trip. What you do is pick a date/time that you want your event and invite all your friends and family. TVE provides wine, beer and appetizers for your all guests at the party. Your guests shop and mingle at the store and whatever sales we generate during your party, we will give you 10% of that to put towards an upcoming trip. It's a really great way that your friends and family can help support your trip, as well as, inform them of the types of activities and work you will be doing on the trip.

Zach is going to Kenya in July and he had scheduled a fundraising event that took place yesterday. It was from 5-7pm at TVE. He had roughly 20 to 25 friends and family come out and support him. He also had one of his friends that is a singer/songwriter come and play. We provided wine, beer, hummus and vegetables, and apples. The party went really well and I met a lot of people! Yesterday was a great day at work. I mean, who wouldn't love to hang out with great people, drink wine and chat about traveling?

They're Back

Anne and Kelly finally made it back home from Thailand! They brought back so many things with them. They even brought me back a dress--so cute right? Kelsie and I tagged the new items all day. It's quite time consuming when you have to hand write the price, item number, and tie the tag with twine. Despite this, it's still fun getting new products and to be the first to see them!

The Healthy Elephant

Tuesday's are typically my day off, except this Tuesday I decided to work from home. Anne and Kelly are coming back from Thailand this week and I wanted to make sure that I had all my projects in order to show them, especially all the customs and shipping information. I put together a binder for Anne to show her all the research that I had gathered. I put the information in order and labeled all sections to make it easier to refer back to.

I mentioned before that one of the jobs was to summarize the "Importing Basics" document. I spent the entire day reading the 211 page document and summarizing each section so Anne could understand the basis of importing internationally. I've read the document a couple times now, but if you asked me a question about importing I probably still wouldn't know (which is why I've been trying different memory exercises). Anyway, I've managed to summarize that entire into only 9 pages!! You can hold your applause=) Hopefully, Anne will find it quite useful as we start to develop and start importing for the wholesale line.

Meanwhile, as I was summarizing and putting the binder together, I thought I would try and make this coffee drink I like. It's called the, Healthy Elephant, and is from a local coffee shop here in Broad Ripple. The drink is my absolutely favorite, but….kind of pricey. I thought maybe if I could just make it at home, then I could save about 10 bones each week.

So, the other day and Trader Joe's I bought the only ingredient that I didn't have at the house to make the drink, almond milk. In the drink there is almond milk, espresso, cocoa powder, honey and peanut butter. I thought it would be pretty easy to make, but not being as savvy as a barista as I thought…. it didn't turn out so well. The milk to coffee to ice ratio was a little off. I'm bound to try and make it again--I know I'm close to the real thing! I'll keep you updated on the second trial.

Rhapsody in Green

My entire weekend was spent in Elkhart, IN. Emily picked me up from my house at 7am on Friday the 11th. We traveled 4 1/2 hours North on 69 to Elkhart. Elkhart isn't exactly 4 1/2 hours away, we just ended up getting lost that morning which made the drive even longer.

We literally were lost in the sticks of Indiana. As we were driving through the country, it felt as if we were in a fairy tale and wild animals we leading us to civilization. I'm not kidding either. Wild animals were popping out everywhere as if they were telling us which direction to head. We first had a large black hawk swoop down in front of our windshield, we then saw a herd (or is it a pack? or something else?) of deer, we then had to wait for two chickens to cross the road, and lastly, we came upon a stray black cat. There were a few more encounters, but I can't seem to remember them right now:/ Emily and I were cracking up. We couldn't believe where we were and how these friendly creatures were everywhere. But, it did make for good laugh as we were frantically trying to find our way to Elkhart.

The event in Elkhart was called, "Rhapsody in Green." Not sure where the name comes from, but let me tell you it was something else. You could say it wasn't your typical "art fair" or what was portrayed to Emily. I guess you could say there were a few misrepresentations, made by the coordinator, as to what the festival entailed. There were only a few vendors that were selling nice, quality products, while many of the vendors were selling merchandise that you may typically see at a flea market. TVE didn't exactly fit in (along with some of the other vendors). The attendees at the festival weren't the typical TVE customers. Let me clarify that there was nothing wrong with the attendees to the festival. It is just the fact that this crowd was searching for a different price point than what we have at TVE. Everyone knows that not every person is willing to pay the same price for something. Everyone has a different idea as to what something is "worth" or what the "value" is. That is just the way it is. However, for TVE to be successful we need to be at events where customers see the same "value" or "worth" as we do in the products we sell (or somewhat similar).

Unfortunately, the event in Elkhart did not go as well as planned. The success we thought we were going to have from the event was over estimated. However, this only means we have to work harder and more diligent to make up for our loss. The events we attend in the future will have to be investigated further to prevent these types of outcomes, or at least, to the best of our ability.