A Fairtrade Fairytale

Posted by David on 19/02/2008

With Fairtrade Fortnight just days away I thought a little Fairtrade fairytale might be appropriate. So, are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I’ll begin.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess called Rachel Watkyn who was living the princess life with a 6 figure London salary, a gorgeous home and a handsome prince to share her perfect princess life with. And so they lived happily ever after.

Yeh, right! As happens in fairytales near the beginning, tragedy struck, and Rachel was cursed by a terrible life threatening illness.

Though her life was saved she lost her marvellous career, her gorgeous home and even her handsome prince. Ah well, all that glitters isn’t necessarily gold then!

Strangely, despite the terrible trauma, battered Rachel, bruised and almost broken Rachel and seemingly far from being a princess Rachel, realised that what she really wanted to do was help other people. And so began her first steps on Destiny Road, the road that would surely transform her into a queen – a queen of hearts, perhaps.

Destiny Road took Rachel to Sierra Leone where she saw first hand the appalling desperation and poverty, including dismembered children. Realising that although Aid is essential in times of trouble it can create dependence, not freedom. She saw that there were many very poor but talented artisans, all over the poorest parts of Africa, who really wanted to work for a living, to re-gain their dignity and to support their families - they just needed people to buy their products!

However, realising that the products these skilled craftspeople make are designed for their own culture and not the modern one, Rachel hired designers in the UK to help design pieces that the craftspeople in Africa could make, but which would suit the fashionable UK market. And so the stunning jewellery of the Tiny Difference range was born.

Not only that; being an ethical business Tiny Difference obviously wanted to package their Fairtrade jewellery in appropriate recycled packaging. Surprising as it may seem none could be found, despite months of searching far and wide, cross land and sea, to the four corners of world etc., etc. So was Rachel finally defeated? I think you can guess by now. Undaunted, she established the Tiny Box Company which, apart from providing the packaging for her jewellery, offers fully recycled and very fancy gift bags and boxes for any business that wants them.

Now, this is beginning to sound like a real happy-ever-after ending.

To help make sure that it does end happily why not visit Tiny Difference or the Tiny Box Company