Riverkids Shop News

Paper bead necklaces - why we don't sell them

posted 2009 Sep 12 They’re gorgeous, fairly-priced and people love ‘em, especially when they realise that they’re made from discarded cigarette packets, carefully turned into bright beads. Most of all, paper bead necklaces, earrings, bracelets and more are made by our very own families, including some of the more difficult parents we work with. It took training, support and small initial funding from us, and a lot of hard work and patience from them. But we don’t sell them through this shop for one simple reason: Cambodia House. Mary was one of our first large buyers and helped patiently advise our microbusiness staff, Sinoy, and the families on improving our work and working as wholesalers. Mary sells the beads and lots of other gorgeous...
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The shop's getting bigger by getting smaller!

posted 2009 Sep 12 The Riverkids Shop is run out of a small room in Singapore. As the shop grew, so did all the boxes stacked up around my desk – tonight, after setting aside everything larger than standard mailing bag, I had to hop, skip and jump to make it to the door – physical tetris! We’re having a massive sale of all our beautiful big things to clear shelf space for our new finds. And oh, they were so much fun to hunt down! Some came from the local markets, a few were pure serendipity, and some are old favourites that sold out early on. Next trip, I’m going to look harder for jewelry – we had to turn down some very...
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