Tomato Time!

Come visit ghia tomorrow at the East Nashville Tomato Art Fest! This is one of our favorite events of the year, with lots of fun activities including a parade and a dog costume contest!

We'll be on Woodland Street near 11th....that's the Five Points area of East Nashville. (For those of you mapquesting, try 1106 Woodland Street, 37206.)

Anyway, come check out our fabulous fair trade clothing and jewelry, plus local products from Thistle Farms and other artists! Hope to see you there!

Feature at Love, Shak Baby

The folks at ghia recently got to sit down with the fabulous at Ivy at Love Shak, Baby to talk about fair trade. You can see the results here. Thanks, Ivy, for a great article!

Be sure to check out the other Shak sites, like AnimalShak and Work Shak, for awesome How-Tos and blog giveaways.

Our First Caturday Post!

Our lovely model Loa is showcasing organic cotton Shop Cool totes, reusable shopping bags that are stylish enough for the Village but sturdy enough for the grocery store.

New Product: Scrubbies!

So a few months ago I was doing my usual skin care routine, using toner, makeup remover, etc. And as usual, I was lamenting the fact that I used at least one or two cotton balls every single day, filling my trash can with white puffs. Surely, I thought, there's a more environmentally friendly way of doing this.

Enter ChuCreative, a Memphis artist with a knack for making products that are fun, cute, and useful. While browsing ChuCreative's work, I found these fabulous face scrubbies she fashioned as an eco-happy replacement for all those cotton balls.

Of course, dear customers, I wanted to share these wonderful products with you. ghia is proud to announce that we are now carrying scrubbies from ChuCreative!

I've been enjoying my own set of scrubbies for several weeks. They're gentle enough to remove my makeup, but add a little extra pressure and they prove to be a great exfoliating tool!

Join us at CRAFT's Summer Extravaganza on June 28!

Join ghia at CRAFT's Summer Extravaganza! We're really excited about this event, especially getting to meet new people out in the community. Plus, there will be a cookout to benefit East Nashville Cooperative Ministry, a Second Harvest food box distribution point in East Nashville.

The fun takes place Saturday, June 28, from 10am to 5pm at Memorial Lutheran Church in East Nashville.

Artisan Story: Punam

Our goal at ghia is to change the world, a little bit at a time, by making conscious choices about the way we shop. This story, about a young artisan crafting handmade purses with WorldFinds, is a great example of the quality and caring found in fair trade products.

Nestled within New Delhi, Punam sits among friendly faces and colorful saris, smiling and proud of her contribution. Two years ago, Punam learned to bead from a family artisan cooperative in her neighborhood, and since then they have helped her family earn enough to survive. Punam’s family could not afford the dowry for her marriage -- her mother is sick and her father cannot work regularly due to a chronic illness. Since working, she has been able to pay her dowry as well as her mother’s medical treatments. Working in the cooperative means she is able to provide for herself as well as her family while remaining in a safe, caring environment.

Empowered by a fair wage, a new livelihood, and the preservation of such precious textiles, Punam and a small artisan group craft unique handbags from recycled and discarded sari's exclusively for WorldFinds. They diligently tailor and transform high-quality bags into works of wearable art, embellished with an arrangement of gorgeous sari pieces. Since all of the sari purses are handmade from these recycled sari pieces, each is distinctive from the rest, with variations in patterns, colors, and detailing. Like the artisans, these bags are one-of-a-kind.

Artisan story courtesy of WorldFinds.

New Thistle Farms Products for Summer!

ghia is excited to introduce the redesigned Thistle Farms product line into our store. We have partnered with Thistle Farms for almost a year now, and we love these new products just as much as our original favorites!

Thistle Farms items are handmade in Nashville, Tennessee, by women who have survived lives of addiction, abuse, and prostitution. Every item represents the healing power of hope and love.

A lip balm or hand lotion is a great way to treat yourself or a friend this summer -- we recommend staying cool with Tea Tree Mint lip balm. And don't forget the soy-based candles to add a hint of fragrance to your home. We also have gift baskets available if you want a gift with an extra special touch!