Choose any one of these beautiful handmade sterling silver jewellery items or select the whole co-ordinated set to ensure a memorable fair trade present this Christmas. The silver-working skills evident here are rewarded with a good income by Allpa, which works with thousands of craftspeople throughout Peru. Made in Peru by Allpa
Francisco Bolivia studied jewellery from the age of 13 in the crafts training centre at Ayacucho, specialising in silversmithing, filigree and embossing. He runs a family workshop in Lima and has passed on his skills to his family and other workers.
"For us it is very important to make sure that the young generation learn good skills so they can do it well and continue this tradition. It is very important we don't lose these skills from generation to generation.
It helps a lot, the teachings of Allpa, and other organisations because Allpa has the classes for us and the designers. It helps us to improve our styles.
Working with Allpa is different from working with other companies because to work with Allpa helps us grow as an entrepreneur. It is a partnership, it is a different kind of work.
The human side of this business is very important and we believe that Traidcraft also believes in that." - Francisco Boliva, Allpa.
Fair Trade Producer Details
Allpa is a company set up to market crafts for producers around Peru. Based in Lima, it gives advances, loans and design advice. Also it does training on costs calculation and quality control. In the last years it has developed a programme to follow fair trade compliance (and support) with all the workshops they work with.
Traidcraft is now a relatively small purchaser, but was one of Allpa's original two export customers, who helped the organisation develop the skills to get into the commercial market.
"We are building, little by little, a different world based on human relationships. It is a permanent process. We would like to encourage people in the UK to learn more about our culture and history, it would help our relationship to grow.
Fair trade helps to maintain a permanent relationship and helps people in the UK to know about the poorest people and other cultures." Nelly Canepa and Maria del Carmen de la Fuenta, Allpa, Peru.
2010 Traidcraft | Fighting poverty through trade