What is
Fair Trade
“Fair Trade is, fundamentally, a response to the failure of conventional trade to deliver sustainable livelihoods and development opportunities to people in the poorest countries of the world…Poverty and hardship limit people’s choices while market forces tend to further marginalize and exclude them. This makes them vulnerable to exploitation, whether as farmers and artisans in family-based production units or as hired workers within larger businesses.” World Fair Trade Organization (http://wfto.com/)
About The Shop
I am an architect with an abiding interest in Palestine. Frustrated by politics, I looked for a person-to-person way to make a small difference in this part of the world. Several years ago, I became an Interfaith Partner with Canaan Fair Trade to introduce their delicious organic olive oils and tapenades to my community. I subsequently joined World Market Mondays, a local non-profit collective presenting crafts from various countries in Africa; and from Haiti, India and Nepal. Gradually, I added more and more fair trade Palestinian crafts to my summer craft fair offerings and started to dream of a year-round place to present this beautiful work.
It was a great joy to design the shop and to have it built by island craftsmen Patrick Brown - Housewright and Trevor Lowther - Ironwood; and painted by master painters Fernando Almeida and Sergio Miranda. Aleah MacNelly designed our logo and Julia MacNelly painted the wonderful floating olive branch painting inside.
Olive Branch Fair Trade is a member of the BuyLocalMV / Island Club. We offer Island Card discounts on Blown Glass and Sterling Silver Jewelry.
What We Sell
We sell all of the Canaan Fair Trade products from Palestine that are available in the U.S. We also carry various ingredients which are indispensable to Middle Eastern cooking.
At Olive Branch Fair Trade, you will find a wide variety of Palestinian fair trade, and direct artisan crafts - including embroidery, hand painted pottery, olive wood kitchenware, and hand-blown glass; kuffiyas, wool felt creations; leather goods, sterling silver jewelry, and olive oil soaps.
We have two stunning paintings and a fine reproduction from Malak Mattar’s series “When peace dies…embrace it; it will live again.” We also have modern calligraphy by Ahmad Zoabi.
The shop has a sweet book corner featuring embroidery, history, and cookbooks, as well as novels.
You will also find a selection of beautiful crafts from Haiti Peace Quilts, African Artists Community Development Project, and Her Future Coalition.
