Novica, offering a world wide audience to artists in developing nations

Novica is a website that offers handmade jewelry, art, clothing and small home accessories crafted by artists from around the world.  Their mission, in their own words:

"We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And, we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow. At the deepest essence of our philosophy, we want to create a bridge between you and the many talented artisans across the globe.
We want you to know about who you're buying from. We want you to feel that attachment to the product and to the hands that created it. In the spirit of the Internet, let us bring you together."

Novica promotes the notion that artisans in developing nations merely need the ability to showcase their talents in a fair way in order for them to shine. In addition to providing the web presence, Novica also offers Microfinancing to those whose local financing options, if there are any, come with steep interest charges.  Studies show that repayment of micro loans is exceptionally high and are great social investments. Novica customers can also contribute to lending pools by directly funding an individual artist's loan request. When the loan is repaid, it can be re-lent to another artist, used to purchase Novica products (with a 15% bonus on top) or withdrawn. Pretty clever.

They were kind enough to offer me the chance to try out their service and select a couple of items. I'm a stickler for customer service, delivery and quality and was not disappointed here.

Even though I don't cover fashion or personal style on this blog, I couldn't help but order this beautiful Elixir glass and freshwater pearl necklace. It's as pretty in person as it is here in their photo:

And this is Nareerat Tansuwansophon from Thailand, who made the necklace. You can read her story here.

I also ordered this lovely little handmade Celedon vase:

And this is ceramic artist Duangkamol Srisukri, also from Thailand. Her story is here.

The package arrived in about a week or so and was extremely well packaged and the presentation could not have been better. The vase was wrapped in an intricate "box" made of tightly wound sturdy tissue paper and then gift wrapped with handmade paper. The necklace came in a coordinating jewelry box. Each piece had a nicely made note card describing the piece with a quote from the artist, and a small handwritten note from "Team Thailand" was included as well.

I honestly can't recommend this site enough, especially if you wanted to send the item as a gift. Other jewelry items they offer are silver cufflinks from India, belts made in Brazil from recycled soda pop-tabs, gorgeous painted silk scarves, alpaca wool shawls, and hand-knit sweaters.

On the home decor front, they offer beautiful hand knotted rugs from Mexico, the Andes, Kashmir and India. A friend of mine was familiar with the Novica website and has been keeping an eye on their fine art offerings, as he has an interest in modern and in particular Cubist style paintings.

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