If you were to read my About Us, on my site here, you'd see a theme running through all that I've done and do when it comes to my business ventures. It's a consistent thread that shouts out that Ruth loves to sell great product and work with the fine people behind that product. End of story.
I've had the fortune over the past 30 plus years to have done just that, through various forms and sizes of businesses. But it ALL started very humbly in 1985, working with the artisans of Haiti, spurred by my job changing and no longer having a venue to promote the handicrafts of those that I had come to know in my travels throughout the country, for what was 3 years working as a volunteer for International Child Care.
It was Victome who spurred me on. A quiet demur man who was taught how to make greeting cards out of banana bark from an episcopalian nun. The organization I worked for bought cards from him to sell to our tour groups. I frequented his most humble "factory" ( a room tucked in the mountain side in a dilapidated building where he and a handful of workers produced these works of art.) to pick up stock and was impressed by his drive, work ethics and humble Spirit.
I find myself revisiting all of this after spending time populating my site with more than 60 pieces of Haitian Ironwork, one of the categories I sold way back when...but now much more sophisticated than the pieces I originally procured. So, if it seems a little "odd" that you see what you're seeing on my site, it's not.
Trust me, there's a story, there's a bevy of fine people, behind each and every category I represent...and if you care to read more about this specific category of Haitian ironwork, you can click to an additional missive I crafted recently. It's a tad long as fair warning.
Ruth