Savoir Faire With a Conscience

You can be forgiven at times for thinking that going green, volunteering, or buying Fair Trade does not enter the realms of Savoir Faire, and that a sacrifice of style is necessary if we are to follow any of these practices. Fear not style mavericks it is not so!

Each week I volunteer at one of the Ten Thousand Villages locations here in Toronto and have been doing so for close on 5 years. For those of you that don’t know Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit fair trade organization that markets handcrafted products made by disadvantaged artisans from more than 120 artisan groups in 35 countries.

So now to the crunch! Ok, so a lot of the stuff that they do stock is not to my taste, however a few gems can be found if you want some savoir faire with a conscience.

For that summer cocktail that deserves a low ball while sitting outside on your terrace, glass-blowing, basketry, and innovative recycling have come together by way of Bangladesh.

Two salad items that I can’ live without are below, come to us by way of Vietnam. Salad Servers are reclaimed buffalo horn (I know what you are thinking, however nothing has died to make these)

Then to go with your salad servers the below bamboo bowl again fro Vietnam. Doubles as salad bowl or fruit bowl, who would have guessed, two uses for the price of one!

For the girls there is the fabulous cuff bracelet below from India, worn with the right frock this oozes jet set glamour.

For Ambience on the terrace at night, I just love these metalwork candle holders also from India.

Also now that we have to pay 5 cents for plastic bags here in Toronto from our favourite purveyors, be green and stylish at the same time with the below jute bag from Bangladesh.

So visit a store and I am sure you will find something you will like, only if it is a pack of the best coffee ever!