My Local DressMaker

I started selling Fulani jewelry in the early 1990s. I bought my first stock from Ghanaian and Malian glass bead traders I would meet at the Ghana Trade Fair center. I was fascinated by the intricate work and the bright shine of the brass. I had sold brass and silver jewelry from India and Thailand since the late 80s but had never come across any other people who worked brass that thin or that shiny. My customers were equally as fascinated. It would be more than 10 years I would go to Mali and meet Malian Fulani brass jewelry makers for myself.  The origins of the distinctive earring designs is shrouded in a bit of mystery and many stories. The one that rings true to me is that 1000s of years ago the Fulani peoples left the areas of modern day Senegal and became nomadic. They followed their cattle and traded from the Western coast of Africa all the way up towrds he North, some even going as far up as Egypt. Along the way they would trade with the other peoples they incounte...

The West African arts and crafts industry is going through a huge creative resurgence, but all the while we are loosing business to Indonesian, Bangladesh,Vietnamese  and Balinese craft workshops. The Asian workshops have a very organised factory style set up and the owners have access to cheap capital that African craft makers cannot compete with. When it comes to finance the African craft worker is at a huge disadvantage. In Ghana and Nigeria it's easier to get long term and decent interest rates on a loan to build a church, an institution that taxes its members, but pays no tax to the country.           Try to get a long term low interest loan to start a manufacturing business and you will find no banks to finance your deal. This is how the world is set up so its nearly impossible for Africans to go into manufacturing in a way where we can compete with Asia, but we must find ways round this situation. ...

I was lucky enough to spend a few days with Jonathan, Vicky and Steve from Rainstick trading at this year's spring fair. The show is the largest gifts fair in the UK and happens twice a year, in February and September.  I have traded in New York and Ouagadougou trade fairs and wanted to see what a UK trade show was like and I wanted see how Rainstick trading run their wholesale business, especially in these uncertain times. Johnathan Wells founder of Rainstick trading is an old friend from the UK music festival scene and I love the fact that we cant work out exactly when we first met, but we have lived parallel lives going back to Camden market in the 1990s.  For a number of festival traders who regularly traveled to Bali, Indian and parts of Africa, wholesale has become the natural progression as we have got older and had children.  There also comes a time when the British weather starts to make festivals a bit too much like hard work and festival organi...