Ten years ago, formative friends Becky Riess and Kris Engle were going through a transition in their lives and careers. Riess had just stepped down from her 27-year job in sales and marketing at Kimberly Clark. her husband from India to South Africa.
Or they sought out their next businesses to make a difference far beyond their own lives.
His company, Thumbprint Artifacts, sells products made through artisans in South Africa. Many products are ornamental pieces such as candles and handicrafts made at home by artisans.
“I was at a point in my life where I was looking to do something that was not only satisfying on a private level, but also had a positive effect on others,” said Engle, who lives in South Africa. “Luckily, my lifelong friend, Becky, was in her life at the same time. “
As a member of the Fair Trade Federation, Thumbprint Artifacts basically buys its products directly from artisans, who set their own prices. page says. About 90% of artisans are single mothers.
Ronnie Daniels is one of the craftsmen. She works for Kapula Candles, one of the corporations in South Africa that Thumbprint Artifacts represents in the United States. Kapula Candles products are the best sellers on Thumbprint Artifacts. Daniels has been with Kapula for 21 years.
“I’m just a general user with no background, no experience, no school degree and two daughters to support,” Daniels told Engle, who shared Daniels’ quotes and reports with the Free Press.
Before being hired through Kapula Candles, Daniels had just given birth to her momentary daughter and needed an assignment. Daniels, the last user to send his resume, didn’t expect to be called back. However, the other people who interviewed her for the position in Kapula had also worked with her on a previous assignment at the local supermarket. Soon, Daniels was hired as a candle painter for Kapula.
More: Detroit’s Gen Z brothers get a federal contract against all odds: How they did it.
More: Daughter sits next to her mother’s to sell clothes to Detroit visitor type
Daniels is now manager of 26 candle painters in Kapula. She says her paintings have their life.
Thumbprint Artifacts has played a vital role in this. Tourism accounts for a large portion of Kapula’s income. With the onset of the pandemic, tourism in South Africa came to a halt, meaning that sales in Kapula have become a large part dependent on the distribution of fingerprint artifacts in the United States.
“During COVID, we keep asking, ‘How can we help those artisans?’So we keep selling,” Riess said. We had a record year in 2020. “
The company, in Detroit, on the border of Corktown and Mexicantown, continues to grow. Reiss said Thumbprint Artifacts also made record profits in 2021. She expects profits to increase 75% this year.
Since 2012, the company Riess and Engle envisioned as a “small gift site” has turned into paintings with nearly a dozen vendors, more than 180 artisans and sells to more than 500 retailers, adding 50 museums. In their quest to locate In 2018, the partners opened their own distribution center and introduced a separate business that offers gift wrapping and shipping to other businesses.
But Riess says he measures the good fortune of his business through the difference it makes for South African artisans.
“Other people not only love the products, but they also love the history of the products,” Riess said. “It’s actually appealing to consumers to hear how the products were made, where they were made, who they impacted in the purchase and all that. . “
Although they have connections in the countries, Thumbprint Artifacts focuses on helping artisans in South Africa, a country with an unemployment rate of around 34%, according to South Africa Statistics, a government firm that tracks demographics.
South Africa is “one of the most unequal countries in the world,” according to the World Bank. Although apartheid officially ended in 1994, inequality remained high. The richest 10% of the population owns about 80% of the country’s wealth.
Although aware of those problems, Engle, who grew up in Okemos, said she was drawn to South Africa because of its good looks and diversity. Engle highlighted the diversity of cultures and official languages of the country.
Kapula’s artisans are very proud of their paintings. Daniels says her paintings mean “everything to her, and that she has been given an opportunity that other people in her netpaintings “can only dream of. “
Daniels asks that every time someone lights a Kapula candle, they light it for all Kapula workers.
“Not only the artisans who paint the candles, but also those who make the candles, pack the candles, clean the workshop. . . Everyone is grateful for the effect it has on their lives,” Daniels told Engle.
Daniels said, “Every candle is special because each and every artisan is special. “
Ruby Go, senior at Washtenaw Technical Middle College, summer apprentice with Detroit Free Press