ning of an Indian infiltration into the American culture. If you tune in to any “pop” radio channel, Bollywood remixes are being repeatedly played, Frieda Pinto-- the beautiful female lead of Slumdog-- is said to be in talks to star as the next Bond girl, and now the Indian culture has even made its way onto little ol’ Kelly Green’s blog. I love this, and am happy for the opportunity to be exposed to some new, previously unknown (for me, anyway) cultural diversity.Since this is written, I can incorporate any special effects I want. For instance, I’m rewinding time to go back one week:
While sitting on a train going to New York City, I was killing time (see, time is my bitch in this word world) by restlessly thumbing through that week’s trashy tabloid. After having read about Rhianna’a alleged pregnancy and Jen & John latest drama, I stopped on a page of green “must have” accessories. Sure, the certified oak “iWood” iPhone cover was pretty sweet, but $110 seemed like a steep price for some pocket wood. There was a cute reusable lunch bag, but come on US Weekly (or whatever magazine it was), we are all ALREADY hip to the reusable bags! Instead of these, the item that really caught my attention was like the runt of the litter in a box full of frolicking puppies. Instead of aggressively seeking my attention, in the corner of the page there quietly sat a couple of thick, multi-colored bangles that were woven together out of paper-mached newspapers. They were unlike anything I had ever seen before, looked so unique and chic, were reasonably priced at under $30, and were such a good idea that I felt like felt like I had to share “Wellpaper’s” products with everyone I could.
After politely asking my lovely travel companion if I could rip the page out her glossy magazine, I carefully folded up the page and tucked it away in my cavernous purse, intent on further researching later.
Now, we are fast-forwarding to that Monday, when I first got a chance to Google my query. While I was really expecting links to Kitson and its ilk to pop up so I could tell you where to buy these cutie cute bracelets, I was surprised to instead first find the home page for the company, which revealed the inspiring and heart-warming history of Wellpaper and its goods. (And provides the tie-in to my India based introduction.)
Rewinding again: In 2004, an Israeli couple up and moved their family to a little town in India. She was an artist whom specialized in paper mache crafts made out of recyclable materials, and dabbled in social work. He was an accountant by trade. Once in India, they gathered groups of interested women, and taught them how to make products out of materials they had available to them (old newspapers and magazines, etc.), and make a business out of it --Wellpaper (Women's Empowerment through Local Livelihood) was thus born.
The village women that compose this organization are loving the fact that they can make their own money to better their
families’ quality of living, while building close relationships with their co-workers, and establishing a sense of accomplishment and self-worth. (The site is really cute, there are bios of some of the involved women, and they share their thoughts and feelings in their own words.)
After politely asking my lovely travel companion if I could rip the page out her glossy magazine, I carefully folded up the page and tucked it away in my cavernous purse, intent on further researching later.Now, we are fast-forwarding to that Monday, when I first got a chance to Google my query. While I was really expecting links to Kitson and its ilk to pop up so I could tell you where to buy these cutie cute bracelets, I was surprised to instead first find the home page for the company, which revealed the inspiring and heart-warming history of Wellpaper and its goods. (And provides the tie-in to my India based introduction.)
Rewinding again: In 2004, an Israeli couple up and moved their family to a little town in India. She was an artist whom specialized in paper mache crafts made out of recyclable materials, and dabbled in social work. He was an accountant by trade. Once in India, they gathered groups of interested women, and taught them how to make products out of materials they had available to them (old newspapers and magazines, etc.), and make a business out of it --Wellpaper (Women's Empowerment through Local Livelihood) was thus born.
The village women that compose this organization are loving the fact that they can make their own money to better their
families’ quality of living, while building close relationships with their co-workers, and establishing a sense of accomplishment and self-worth. (The site is really cute, there are bios of some of the involved women, and they share their thoughts and feelings in their own words.)They are taught how to read and write, and are even dabbling in learning the English language. Wellpaper has seen enough success to warrant starting similar programs in 3 additional villages, and their products are being shipped all over the world. In addition to bangles, they also make lot other stuff, like baskets, coasters, earrings, hair clips, plates and key chains, and they are mostly all made out of “raw” materials, newspapers are the most common medium used, but plastic bottles, plastic bags, and old cartons are all fair game as well.
Obviously, buying these products is beneficial in a multitude of ways... and as cute as they are, the least of all being the fact that the Wellpaper accessories can benefit your outfit. The whole Wellpaper concept really appealed to me, because the hand-made, one-of-a-kind products that these women are making are proof positive of the good that can be accomplished by opening your mind and heart to those different than yourself. With all of the bad things people are doing to each other across the world, it's refreshing and invigorating to hear about such selflessness that is happening right NOW.
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