One of our most prized jewelry collections comes from the
Philippines, which gives this collection an appreciable exotic charm in and of
itself. We’ve been carrying Benitez Collection jewelry (BC) —which
creatively expands on the Philippine tradition of papier mache art—for two
years now and our customers love the unique look and feel of these recycled
pieces. The fair trade and eco friendly jewelry collection is eponymously named
after its founder, Ramona Benitez McClelland. Ramona came to the Philippines
and started her cottage industry business in the footsteps of her son, Bryan
Benitez McClelland, who had ventured to the Philippines eight years ago as an
environmental consultant and ended up participating in a revolutionary product:
the bamboo bicycle.
In an interview with Asian
Journal magazine, Ramona explained, “I started Benitez Collection to help
provide women in poor rural communities with livelihood opportunities. My
long-term goal is to have them take responsibility for the entire process.” She
had worked at IBM for 26 years and started BC in 2011.
She goes on: “We salvage discarded newspapers, magazines and
plastic from their garbage dump or from donations, and with a little bit of
rice paste, nontoxic paint/waterseal, and a lot of polishing, we create
attractive unique jewelry that look like rocks but are so light, people can’t
believe that these are made of paper.”
Ramona hopes to grow her small empire into something bigger so
she can expand beyond the 18 women and their families in three remote villages
in Tarlac, Batangas and Abra she currently works with.
Our fair trade accessories collection has expanded
over the past few months, so please take a look and do some early fall
shopping, for gift giving of eco friendly, handmade items that everybody loves.
Enjoy your shopping with us and be sure to like us on Facebook
and recommend us to your friends. Shopping for a Change is a 501 (c)(3)
nonprofit organization.
