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ATA returned from an exciting week at the New York International Gift Fair. West Elm, an innovative Williams Sonoma Inc. retailer, is currently sourcing silk pillows from India through ATA’s partner Craftmark. The pillows are featured in their latest catalog. After visiting ATA’s booth at the latest NYIGF, West Elm is also interested in Haitian, El Salvador and lead free Mexican products.
Colorful pillows made from locally grown cotton in Benin will be sold and featured in an upcoming issue of Sundance Catalog. Other products from ATA’s booth including river stone hearts from Haiti, reconstituted leather from El Salvador and Colombian jewelry piqued the interest of several buyers.
In more exciting news, ATA had a full house for its Market Readiness Program (MRP) with more than 30 exporters, artisans, and entrepreneurs from over a dozen countries around the world. During the class, nicknamed the “5-day MBA”, a roomful of people working in various aspects of the craft sector sat engaged and eager to learn about how to market their products globally. During the class, they learned skills including costing and pricing, green marketing, the importance of online marketing and how to export. They also had the chance to show their products to a panel of renowned designers who gave them product feedback about what worked in their product lines and what may need changing. the participants also learned a great deal from one another. At the end of the class, they exchanged emails and expressed a deep commitment to stay in touch about their businesses.
One powerful story highlighting the impact of the MRP came from a Pakistani woman who participated in the MRP for the first time in August 2008. She ran into the MRP room and told us she now had her own booth at the NYIGF and was applying everything she learned 6 months earlier. A huge achievement for a woman who product proceeds, which included recycled burqas made into purses, go towards helping Afghani women refugees.
ATA also embarked on a very successful media tour with Aram Sharambeyan, an Armenian artisan entrepreneur from ATA’s past project, who is still running his profitable craft business today. Aram, along with several MRP participants, interviewed with This American Life, The Crafts Report Magazine, The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
