As announced earlier, I have designed a number of products for the new Fair Trade Original collection (FTO, 08/06/09 newsletter). Afterwards, I was asked to attend the presentation of the new collection. I was willing to help out, but preferred to hold the presentation at our location so I would not have to travel any more than necessary. Besides, the presentation practically coincided with our own collection presentation and the showroom needed to be tidied up anyway.
After returning from Vietnam, we thought that, unlike the wooden baskets, the ceramic vases would not cause too many problems. The first shipment of baskets, however, arrived quickly and exceeded our expectations. The series of vases sent turned out to be incomplete and not exactly what we had expected. What’s more, the factory’s reluctance towards producing the most complicated vase turned out to be so great that they did not even want to try. I have now drawn two versions that we hope will entice them to try again with renewed courage.
At any rate, we can now present the wooden products and a price list has already been drawn up. Everything will be available early next year. The FTO production and distribution method offers opportunities we normally would not have. Hopefully we can do our part to create new possibilities and opportunities for FTO in turn. In that sense, this project is a resounding success. The prices are a little high for Fair Trade Original, but utterly reasonable for us.
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