MANATEE -- A colorful rhino made out of flip flops lost overboard from cruise ship passengers.
Paper made out of elephant dung.
Purses made from aluminum can pop-tops or candy wrappers.
The rhino, elephant paper and hundreds of other pieces comprise the inventory of a unique new store in Lakewood Ranch.
Artisans’ World Marketplace is backed by a nonprofit organization that helps artisans around the world living below the poverty level to be able to support their families, said Artisans’ president Sandy Ramsey.
The store, which opened recently on Main Street, traces its start back to 1995 with six people sitting around Doug and Sandy Ramseys’ dinner table in Sarasota.
“We joined the Fair Trade Federation and started in Sarasota with $800 and a $25,000 inventory loan,” Sandy Ramsey said. Initially, they worked out of the basement of First United Methodist Church of Sarasota.
“For seven years we were in 600 square feet until the church gave us their storefront to use,” Sandy Ramsey said. “They look at us as a mission because we are feeding starving people.”
The original Artisans’ store is at 128 S. Pineapple in downtown Sarasota.
The items range in price from $1 all the way to $1,000 for complex wall art from Peru.
Artisans terms itself a “100 percent fair trade” organization, which means the artisans receive more compensation for their work than they would otherwise receive, Ramsey said.
“Take a little coin purse that costs 42 cents for the materials,” Ramsey said. “It will sell for about $4 in the U.S. From us, the weaver-sewer gets $1.65 of that $4 instead of eight cents wage from a factory.”
There is a story behind almost everything in the store.
Doug Ramsey said Sandy may catch someone walking out of the door and she will say, “Can I tell you the story behind our store?” “They hear it in her voice and see it in her manner that it is all from her heart,” Ramsey said.
She will tell you about the elephant dung stationery.
“Elephants were dying in Sri Lanka because they were being killed by farmers trying to keep them from eating their crops,” Sandy Ramsey said.
“But the farmers were shown how they could harvest elephant dung and turn it into paper. The poo is boiled and sanitized. It has a texture like rice paper. It’s a win-win story. Now, the farmers have a new source of income and the elephants are not being killed.”
Doug Ramsey says his favorite item in the store is a hand-painted kite from Indonesia.
“It’s a dragon kite that is so beautiful that no one ever flies it, they just hang it up on the wall,” Ramsey said of the $60 kite. “It’s six-foot tall. It has a three-and-a-half foot wing span. It’s deep blue with gold claws and bright orange and green scales. Flames are coming out of his head. Someday I will take him out and fly him.”
The Ramseys never thought they would be on Main Street, but they said Lakewood Ranch wanted them and gave them a great deal.
“I had always felt Lakewood Ranch would be a great deal but we felt we couldn’t afford it,” Sandy Ramsey said. “But God works in mysterious ways. I think they like us because we are different.”
Brian Kennelly, president of LWR Commercial Realty, said he is confident that Artisans’ will be very appealing to shoppers.
The Lakewood Ranch Artisans’ store, at 8130 Lakewood Ranch Main Street, is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Information: 306-5859 or www.artisansworldmarketplace.com.
Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 748-0411, ext. 6688.
