Amazon Handmade, which strives to empower local artisans and connect them to customers around the world, is excited to partner with Nest, a nonprofit supporting the responsible growth and creative engagement of the global handworker economy. Together, Amazon Handmade and Nest will provide more than 250,000 artisans from all corners of the globe—the large majority of them being women—with the support and technical know-how to successfully reach Amazon’s millions of customers and grow their small businesses in the process.
Nest delivers a wide range of free, capacity-building programming to The Nest Guild—an open-access community of over 1,500 small-to-medium sized artisan enterprises based in more than 120 countries. In line with the mission of Amazon Handmade, Nest provides artisans with complimentary access to tools, resources, and mentorship to help them grow and develop their businesses, while also achieving social impact within their communities. Artisans who are part of both The Nest Guild and Amazon Handmade produce across a variety of categories, including fabric and home textiles, fashion accessories, home decor, apparel, jewelry, rugs, furniture, office accessories and stationery, and packaging.
In light of this, Amazon and Nest teamed up to help artisan businesses increase their visibility on Amazon Handmade, reach Amazon’s customer base, improve product reviews, and generate consistent sales that propel their businesses’ sustainable growth. Nest’s data has consistently shown that when women artisans within the Guild increase their income, those earnings go toward children’s education and their families, allowing communities to thrive
“Amazon Handmade’s partnership with Nest allows us to extend a greater variety of handmade items to Amazon customers, while also expanding our network of local artisans,” said Lisa Butters, general manager of Amazon Handmade. “We look forward to giving these makers an opportunity to share their unique stories with more people to ultimately grow their small businesses.”
“Providing the maker businesses in the Nest Guild with access to direct-to-consumer channels, and the marketing platform to reach consumers at scale, is crucial to supporting handworker businesses, many of which have had to deal with the consequences of cancelled wholesale orders and craft markets over the past one-and-a-half years,” said Rebecca van Bergen, Nest’s founder and executive director. “Through this partnership, Nest and Amazon are optimizing new sales channels for a diverse community of makers—regardless of sex, race, economic means, or physical ability—at a time when they need it most.”
A curated group of 30 artisan and maker businesses were strategically selected to be onboarded to Amazon Handmade based on key areas of interest: product selection, pricing, geography, and those with a potential to create social impact. Each artisan offers a truly unique craft to Handmade and has a unique story to tell. Meet some of our Nest makers below:
- Indego Africa is a nonprofit that supports the integrity of artisan-made goods and creates opportunities for the women who make them. Since 2007, Indego Africa has been propelling the creation, growth, and sustainability of women-owned businesses in Africa by providing artisans with a global market for their handmade products and investing in their education. From weaving natural fibers and wood carving to hand-beading and pottery making, Indego Africa’s product line is handcrafted by artisans who have been practicing these time-honored techniques for decades.
Karen Yelick, CEO of Indego Africa.- Peacesake Candles & Co. was founded by Elias and Valencia Morr, who have a love for making candles and a creative vision. They craft room sprays and candles made with the environment in mind. Both Valencia and Elias are passionate about more sustainable living, which is why all of Peacesake’s candles are clean, toxin-free, and recyclable.
Elias and Valencia Morr, founders of Peacesake Candles & Co.- Kathyphantastic is the work of Kathy Phan, a pet portraitist, illustrator, and lettering artist based in Austin, Texas. Kathy enjoys the use of color to bring out the character, dimension, and texture of her animal subjects, and illustrates all of her original pieces by hand using pencil and watercolor (and sometimes pen and ink). Her products include watercolor pet portraits, pet portraits on ceramics, paper goods, stickers, and magnets. Kathy’s pet portraits are created based on photographs submitted by her clients.
Kathy Phan, owner of Kathyphantastic.Photo by Alicia Leigh Photography- Craft Boat explores printing techniques such as block printing, hand marbling, hand screen printing, and the art of hand dying with natural pigments. Based in Jaipur, they use recycled paper products and create projects to encourage traditional Indian craftsmanship. With a vision for community development, the Craft Boat production studio tries to collaborate with its artisan communities by diving deep into their crafts and exploring their possibilities for product development.
Priti Pugalia, founder of Craft Boat.Photo by Kewal ChholakLast year, Amazon’s partnership with Nest granted more than 100 Digital Marketing Fellowships to artisans around the world. Designed to promote gender equity and economic inclusion, the grants not only provided women-owned businesses with funding, but all-important access to logistics and expertise, too. In 2020, Amazon supported Nest’s PPE Purchasing Initiative—a program that purchased over 200,000 protective masks from artisan and maker businesses for delivery to front-line workers. In its first year, this program provided more than $500,000 in economic relief to 57 businesses, employing 10,510 skilled artisans. Amazon also sits on Nest’s Industry Steering Committee, a coalition of fashion and home-design brands working alongside Nest to build sector solutions for social responsibility and economic development to handworker economy.
Learn more about the Nest artisans who are sharing their stories and products on Amazon Handmade.
Amazon and Nest look forward to working together to bring unique artisan sellers onto the marketplace and highlight their compelling stories and products.
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