| 300 years ago, women in a small African county called | | | | leis out of them, which cost upwards of $5,000.00 and |
| Mauritania wanted to replicate the intricate designs of | | | | are often collected as works of art. |
| hand crafted glass beads made in Italy and often | | | | Other beads that could be considered fair trade include |
| traded in the African countries. What they came up | | | | various bone beads, used and made throughout the |
| with has been called the Kiffa bead, a work of art so | | | | words and still manufactured in some regions such as |
| brilliant in its use of color and intricate designs that it | | | | remote areas of China as they've been making them |
| can scarcely be imitated today. | | | | for hundreds of years. Bone beads today can still |
| The concept of 'fair trade,' paying living wages for | | | | fetch a hefty price, especially those with very precise |
| hand-crafted and often old-world techniques in | | | | and detailed carvings. |
| developing countries, is not a new concept. Bead | | | | Methods of using beads to make jewelry have also |
| makers have been making a handsome living creating | | | | been around for many years, and many cultures that |
| works of art, either in the bead itself or in the exotic | | | | excel in certain types very intricate techniques. Native |
| and delicate jewelry fashioned from the beads. And | | | | American beadwork, using seed beads to create an |
| they've been doing so for hundreds of years. | | | | abstract or portrait-like work of art, has been in |
| Kiffa beads are one example. They are made by | | | | practice for at least 200 hundred years, ever since |
| casting crushed and powdered glass in sand casts | | | | European traders first brought seed beads to the |
| and then placed in to fire to create a glass bead. The | | | | Americas. Some contemporary pieces are so valuable |
| patterns are often striking. The tradition of African | | | | they end up on display in museums and fetch prices |
| bead making is certainly making a comeback, and the | | | | into the thousands. |
| demand for Kiffa beads, which often fetch a very high | | | | Bead making is an old, old tradition, and though many |
| price, is typically quite high. | | | | types of beads like the glass beads pouring out of |
| Another exotic type of bead that demand fair trade | | | | India and China are so common as to be worth very |
| wages are actually just purchased in the finished | | | | little, you can still find very exotic and handmade works |
| product, the Ni'ihau shell jewelry, created from the puka | | | | of art to hang around your neck. The best part is, |
| shell of a tiny marine crustacean. The shells are | | | | many of these items are made by artisan using |
| harvested when they wash up on the beaches of the | | | | methods that have been handed down for |
| tiny island of Ni'ihau. Islanders collect the shells and | | | | generations, and even more to the point those artisans |
| separate them by the hues of the shell: white, yellow, | | | | are often being paid what they're worth. |
| blue and pink. Then they make intricate and delicate | | | | |