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Stories from the global community
Come along on the journey!
Day 31: It's a Long Ride to New Delhi
Destination:
New Delhi, India
New Delhi and Delhi are actually two separate entities. New Delhi is an urban district located in the city of Delhi. New Delhi serves as the capital of India and the seat of all three branches of government. New Delhi is situated in the north-central part of the country on the west bank of the Yamuna River, adjacent to and just south of the old city of Delhi.
May is the hottest month in New Delhi with an average temperature of 91°F and the coldest is January at 55°F. By train it takes 17 hours to travel from Kolkata (yesterday's destination) to New Delhi.
Fun Facts:
New Delhi is at once both calm and chaotic, a complicated city where cows often wander the shanty-lined streets and the Chandni Chowk market is an exercise in friendly haggling. Khari Baoli is Asia's largest wholesale spice market.
Also: Jantar Mantar is located in the modern city of New Delhi, completed in 1724. It consists of 13 larger-than-life sundials and astronomical instruments. The purpose of the observatory was to compile astronomical tables, and to predict the times and movements of the sun, moon and planets. Jantar Mantar is still used to help predict the weather.
Art Form: Kantha jewelry and Accessories
The Kantha stitching we explored yesterday in Kolkata is also used in making cotton quilts. Worn cotton saris are layered, patched and stitched together using the same distinctive running stitch to prolong the life of the fabric and create new quilts.
WorldFinds jewelry is made from discarded cotton Kantha quilts that are worn but still have usable sections of fabric that can be transformed yet again.
Artisans transform the quilt fabric scraps into beads for jewelry.
Each Kantha bead has a base made of wood that has been carved out of scraps gathered from a local furniture factory.
The artisans then hand cover each wooden bead with a colorful piece of Kantha fabric, attaching them securely with a safe adhesive. Excess fabric is trimmed off, and the bead is complete.
Once a number of beads have been crafted, they are strung together into a necklace, wrapped with wire and added into a cuff bracelet, or transformed into an earring, often incorporating modern elements like metallic sequins, brass metal accent beads, or mixed-metal seed beads.
Artisans assort the beads, so the final piece of jewelry has a unique array of colors and patterns. The result is a Kantha design as unique as the artisan that crafted it!
In addition to jewelry, WorldFinds also produces bandanas, hair ties, scrunchies and other accessories created from pieces of beautiful vintage cotton Kantha fabric or silk saris. Each one is handmade and unique.
The Company: WorldFinds
WorldFinds happened completely by accident, in the middle of a 14-month backpack trip around the world. It was 1999, and founder Kelly Weinberger and her husband David Burns had taken a sabbatical to travel. They'd gone through Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and finally Asia, where they spent time in India and Nepal.
Kelly learned about fair trade from a fellow traveler, and at that moment knew that this was what she needed to do next. She dreamed of creating a business that existed to do good, based on partnership and incorporating great design, collaboration, and respect for humans and the environment. She wanted to build a business that would address the root causes of poverty - a lack of work and fair wages. The combination of dreaming and doing (and persistence!) has resulted in who WorldFinds is today.
WorldFinds is a mostly women-powered brand that began in 2001. They design all of their jewelry, hair ties and scrunchies in-house, and love to work collaboratively - both at their office in Chicago . . .
. . .as well as with their amazing artisans halfway around the world in New Delhi and the village of Ghitorni.
Their innovative designs and sustainable practices bring change to the lives of the artisans, providing a bright future by empowering women, sending girls and boys to school and transforming communities.
The WorldFinds mission is to empower women through fair trade. Their jewelry and accessories create work for over 700 artisans in vulnerable communities in India. Some are part of women's cooperatives or family groups, and others are members of the WFTO (World Fair Trade Organization).
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Shopping . . .
Are you ready to explore
what we have in our store?
Click through to see our special selection of Kantha jewelry and accessories. We're also adding more cotton Kantha jackets and scarves in our "store" today, so check back for those too!
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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!
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We've had two days of a visual feast of colors and patterns with our visits to both Kolkata and New Delhi. How wonderful to see pictures of "strong" women engaged in creative, sustaining work and learn about Fair Trade companies making a difference in so many lives.
At the same time, our hearts continue to go out to the millions of people in the Kolkata area and north-eastern India as well in Bangladesh who have been impacted by Cyclone Amphan in the last 48 hours right in the midst of their largest Coronavirus spike in infections.
Our Brookside store will be open from 11 to 5 today (Thursday) and will be open through Sunday. Our current hours are posted below my signature and we look forward to seeing you!
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 30 days.
Temporary Hours
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!
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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.
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See what's happening on our social sites:
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