 |
|
Stories from the global community
Come along on the journey!
Day 28: Klikety Klik all the way to Cape Town, South Africa.
Destination:
Cape Town, South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is the southernmost country in Africa. Cape Town, colloquially named The Mother City is the second most populous city in South Africa and is also the legislative capital. The city lies at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula some 30 miles north of the Cape of Good Hope.
The summers are warm, dry, and mostly clear; the winters are long, cool, wet, and partly cloudy; and it is windy year round. Typical temperatures vary between 48°F to 76°F.
Fun Facts:
South Africa's Bloukrans Bridge hosts the highest natural bungee jump in the world at 709 feet.
Also:
With its mineral-rich mountain soil, plentiful sunlight, and cool ocean breezes, Cape Town is one of the world's most exciting destinations for wine lovers.
And. . .The first successful human heart transplant was performed in Cape Town, South Africa by doctor Christiaan Barnard in 1967.
Art Form:
Klikety Klik Boxes
"Klikety Klik" is a gift box handmade in South Africa from recycled plastic drink bottles. Cutout flaps open and close the box with surprising fun. This imaginative box is upcycling at its finest by using discarded plastic drink bottles to create value, function and beauty from everyday waste.
This recycling effort also helps benefit a disadvantaged community. Unemployed women are hired and taught how to create these gift boxes as they learn simultaneously about business and sales with the organization
All Women Recycling in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Klikety Klik boxes are designed to be gift boxes, but these eco-chic boxes are beautiful enough to be a gift themselves. The boxes are created by decoupaging paper napkin designs to the cut plastic bottles. As they say, "
if they can find it on a paper napkin, they can put it on on a Klikety Klik box!"
What to do with a Klikety Klik box? Add potpourri, jewelry or your favorite delicacy for a totally unique package. Illuminate with a small, battery-operated candle. The box will hold water as it did when it was a bottle, so it can also be used for a plant or flowers. Or come up with your own fun, creative idea!
Learn more about All Women Recycling in this news video:
|
|
| Women-led enterprise turns waste plastic to decorative gift boxes |
The Company: Koru Street
Amy Stretmater is the imaginative founder of Koru Street.
The koru spiral, a Maori symbol that represents an opening fern leaf, represents a new beginning. Amy's goal with Koru Street is to give new beginnings to waste materials, neighborhoods and lives. But eco-friendly doesn't have to be boring, so Amy is always on the hunt for new and exciting recycled products! The Klikety Klik boxes are just one of the products she has discovered and brought to the U.S.
Amy's story
"For years I worked in the big world of advertising, selling dreams while putting my own on the back burner. In 2007 I decided to finally take a quantum leap of faith. I quit my job and took a trip around the world. Crazy wasn't it???"
In India Amy happened upon the new "green" trend to fashion waste materials into new products and provide employment for an unskilled workforce in the process." That set her on a path to figure out how to incorporate these ideas into a new business.
While on a separate visit to South Africa, she discovered a simpler version of Klikety Klik boxes in a marketplace. Amy asked around and learned about the All Women Recycling program that was already hiring unemployed women and making superior boxes. In 2012 she began a new rewarding and meaningful relationship with All Women Recycling,
bringing 200 of the innovative and beautiful gift boxes to the US.
(Amy in the middle with Lynn Worsley, founder of All Women Recycling
and some of the women artists and recyclers.)
Just two months ago, Amy imported 7,000 boxes on the next-to-last flight out of South Africa before the country closed for COVID-19. She was able to transfer money to the artisan women and recyclers right before they had to shut down operations so they would have resources during their stay-at-home order. Amy is proud that Koru Street is a member of the Fair Trade Federation.
Her mission? "
To prove that eco-friendly can be fun, colorful and even silly sometimes. And can go beyond the environmental benefits to improve the lives of others all around the world."
|
Shopping . . .
Are you ready to explore
what we have in our store?
Our current Klikety Klik boxes come in design assortments. Chose from birds, flowers, butterflies or geometrics. And there are 3 different sizes. Click the picture above or the link below to see just some of the patterns available.
|
|
Don't forget to stamp your Passport!
Click on the
"stamp" to add to your "passport."
We keep track of your stamps for you!
"Collect" at least 12 different "country" stamps during the second 20 days of our around-the-world trip to
be entered
into the drawing for a $25 gift card.
At the end of our 80-day
Around the World
excursion, all eligible travelers (minimum of 48 country stamps)
will be
entered into a drawing for . . .
a Grand Prize
$100 shopping spree gift card!
Thanks for traveling with us today.
Where to next? Stay tuned!
|
I love hearing the stories of small business owners who landed in the world of art and craft after world travel adventures opened up new possibilities and understandings. Perhaps they took a trip as a vacation and fell in love with a new culture. Perhaps they took an extended trip and saw artisans in a number of countries being innovative with supplies they could find and were intrigued by their ingenuity. Perhaps they served under the Peace Corps or another program and fell in love with the people they worked with. There often seems to be a common thread among many of the Fair Trade companies we work with, and those connections let us all experience the world in new ways.
We have enjoyed seeing a few of our customers during the last 3 days and have appreciated how respectful people are of our shopping guidelines including wearing masks. Thank you for "dancing" separately with us. Just a reminder that we are closed Monday and Tuesday and will re-open at 11:00 on Wednesday this week.
For those of you who cannot or choose not to shop in our Brookside store right now, we thank you for your continued online shopping support. And, yes, we plan to continue our global "journeys" with additions to our online store.
And I can't say it enough times -
YOU are an important part of what makes World's Window so special! THANK YOU!
World's Window
"Nobody can define you like you."
P.S.
We are glad to be on this around-the-world virtual journey with you and delighted that you are traveling with us. We hope you are learning some new information as we travel along.
If you haven't already done so, invite some friends to come along! There's still room on this journey!
Send an invite
P.P.S.
We're keeping our trip "log" up to date. If you think you've missed a day or are new to our journey, click
here
to review where we've visited the last 27 days.
Temporary Hours starting May 17
CLOSED Monday and Tuesday
OPEN Wed through Sat, 11 am to 5 pm
Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm
As always we are "sharing the world" through clothing, jewelry, folk art, textiles and hand-selected gifts -
and
buying locally-owned is a gift to your community!
|
One way to support us
right now
is to purchase
World's Window gift cards.
In-store gift cards can also be purchased by calling
us at 816-361-2500.
And, with all gift card purchases
we'll ADD 10% more
to the value of your gift card as a "Thank You" for shopping small and local.
|
|
See what's happening on our social sites:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
