Jan 28, 2008

From the Negev Desert, Ethical Arts Debuts at New York International Gift Fair

Wilmington, DE – Ethical Arts will debut its new line of fair-traded handmade decorative pillows, table runners, handbags, dolls, wastebaskets made from recycled magazines, and other gift items at the New York International Gift Fair, Feb. 2-5, 2008. The products will be showcased in the New York’s Newest section at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th Street, in New York, N.Y.

Ethical Arts works with Bedouin Arab women from the Negev desert to develop beautiful, contemporary products that are marketed to exclusive shops in the U.S. and abroad. The line includes hand-embroidered and woven decorative pillows, table runners, handbags, bedspreads and ottoman cubes designed by contemporary artists to utilize age-old crafting techniques. Some shops that already carry the line include ABC Home in NYC, Karma in Newton Centre, MA, Art Decor Gallery in Cape May, NJ, Nomades in Corrales, NM and The Museum of Jewish Heritage in NYC.

The company was started in April 2007 to help empower women in need, aiming to help them sustain their families and their age-old crafts. Bedouin women are socially and economically deprived and have been constrained by tradition to tending large families on limited means. Most don’t know how to read or write and have never before been able to leave their homes to work. “Through the continuing effort of our Israeli counterpart, Ethnicware Ltd, these women are now hopeful for their futures. Many have already build homes with electricity and moved out of their drafty tent structures”, says Lynn Shapira, founder of Ethical Arts.

The company’s mission is to take social responsibility for those in need by helping to develop and sell unique handmade products. “If we can make peace between Jews and Arabs, stitch by stitch, from the bottom-up, all the better!” says Shapira. Ethical Art’s product line now includes handmade gift items made by other segments of the disadvantaged in Israel; Ethiopian immigrants, Israeli Arabs, and people with mental disabilities. These beautiful products, some make with recycled goods, will be on display at the show, as well.

To receive a copy of the documentary film, Threads of Progress, has been produced about this project, please contact: lynn@Ethicalarts.net or see a preview at BOOTH #9305, NYIGF, New York’s Newest, Metropolitan Pavilion.