It's a trade off.

Hello!! Yes it's meeeee looking very red! I really do think that it is this extremely dodgy camera, but hey ho!!!
I wanted to post this here because I am just so proud of the 'Tiny Difference' Necklace that I am wearing. I swear that whenever I don it at least 1 person comments on how gorgeous it is. It is (I think) perhaps the nicest piece from my Tiny Difference range (here comes the plug...) You can see it without the lobster posing with it at the Tiny Difference website...

Anyway the reason that I am talking about Tiny Difference, which is my Fair Trade Jewellery company (where 20% of the profits will go back into the poorer areas to help them become self sustaining) is because I want to tell you about Eric who is one of my contacts in Africa. Eric is an honest man that I have been dealing with for over a year. He strives for a better life for him and his fellow villagers.. he's kind of like their spokesperson.

People in the poorer areas in Africa are so used to doing things their way that they (quite rightly!!) don't want to look at Western ways of doing business because they want instant results... I can so see where they are coming from from my trips to Africa. But Eric can see the potential for him and his village. Here is an email that he sent me recently;

Hi Rachel!
I wish to bring to your attention in full the situation I am facing back here which is hindering the supply of the pre order till.The production of the Pre Order is not at all the issue to us.
I am faced here with a situation of finance, $35,000.00 to acquire and furnish a working premises to accomondate about 75 craftsmen and management staff altogether if I am to be on a good footing to gaurantee sustain productivity and prompt supply of the products you have put before us, ie. Bra straps, silver jewellery, jewellery boxes and Tee shirts which we capable of producing talking about samples and Pre Order production.
I have contacted my Bank on this issue, I have showed them some of the samples we have produced for you and emails you and I have in the past exchanged.
Much as they are willing to help us out they are asking for a FIRM DETAILED OUT ORDER FOR THE VARIOUS ITEMS from your end, the orders should cover a period of One year with information on monthly orders, their unit and quantity prices and Mode of payment. They need these figures to enable them provide us with our request.This amount is to provide us with rental of the Working premises for a minimum period of 24 months but subject to renewal there after.
I am compelled to take this decision after suffering several disappointments in my attempt to produce your Pre order as getting all the craftsmen together on daily basis became virtually impossible as this was due to the fact that, African craftsmen operates as masters of their own so are used to CASUAL form of working, ie. working individuallly or in small groups at their individual work places and homes, and again their acquaintance to craft works they already are used to over the years past and their blend of such with seasonal farming and other income making activities, which they keep shuttling through like migrating birds for their daily subsistence.
These led to the conclusion to myself that this form of Labour force is not the best for our intended business activities hence the need for Proper structuring to enable me operate with FULL TIME WORKERS.
I am very confident in the success of this business, provided it is properly tackled and managed and as such I am very determined to go all out to build and grow it to success.
Please Rachel, do your best to provide me with the Firm Order as the Bank have requested as soon as possible. I believe they want to see how Serious you are with the Proposals you have put before Me for which I need this Financial assistance. Thank you!
Hoping to hear from you soon.
Warm Regards,
Eric.

In the Western worlds attempts to help with their malnutrition, disease and unemployment where we (especially I) really have a real desire to help, I can't help but think that in order for them to survive and become self-sustaining they must adopt our western ways of doing business... but the cost is that they will lose their unique way of life.

Are we right by inflicting our western policies and way of doing business on them because we are 'really trying to help them'... but they lose their way of life?

What a wicked trade off!

Rachel Watkyn

It's been so busy!

Hello,

Many apologies for not posting for a while... you would not believe how manic things have been in the Tiny Offices. I had to meet a TV agent last week. Christian came up with a TV idea that involves me and this person liked it and wanted to talk about it... CCCCCCccccccrazy! On a different TV note, both me and Christian will be on TV soon, but we can't tell you which show etc as we have had to sign a secrecy agreement!! ssshhhhhhhhh... I can tell you that it's not some no budget satellite channel that you have ever heard of. It's a big budget show that's on terrestrial TV... so big ups to us on that!!! and shhhhhhh again!!! More on when it airs etc after we recorded it etc...

In the Tiny Box offices it's been more hectic than ever... Me and him are run off our feet and it looks like we will be hiring someone pretty soon. We have to.

Anyway thanks to everyone who emailed asking 'where's your blog?' etc etc...

We are still alive.

Just.

Rachel

The Big Tiny Box Tour... minus Christian!

Hi Guys...

I decided to take a well earned day off last week, leaving Christian in charge!!! Oh what trust I have in him!! Am I sane? Anyway I went to London thinking I can unwind for a little while... I switched my phone off and relaxed for a nice comfortable 'train snooze' only to be woken by a very strange man offering me the 'London Lite' paper... I seized upon it knowing that I can complete the Su Doku in breathtaking time, and knowing that the cute guy who gave me the paper may have thought I was/am a bit of a bimbo (It's an image I sometime portray!!) anyway I opened the relevant page and HEY HO Brilliant!!!!, an unabused Su Doku had my name on it. I searched my cavernous bag for a pen... nothing... 'I won't let this stop me!' I thought. 'Excuse me!' I loudly said, "May I trouble anyone for a pen?"... this out burst was met with silence (insert tumbleweed here)... Ahhh great, now they think I'm bloody mad... why is it the closer one gets to London the quieter and less talkative one becomes. I realised just why at East Croydon; a scruffy young man with a dog got on and proceeded to give his well rehearsed story of being homeless, he had found a bed for the night... and he needed funds to book in. I truly felt sorry for him and was reaching into my pocket when Su Doku man took my hand and simply said 'No'... 'It will go on drugs'... he handed me a pen and said, 'go on then, how good are you'. I rammed the sharpened ballpoint into his... no I thought slow down Rachel... I calmly took it from him and in the 15 minutes it took to do the Su Doko and hand it back to the now Not Cute bloke, I had also given some cash to the homeless boy. Yes it does bother me that it might go on drugs, but I felt better. I got off at Victoria wondering did I give the money to pay for my own guilt or did I really want to help house him for the night? I think I know the answer...

Rachel

Latest News from the sole UK recycled only packaging company

Hi,
Yes I know the title makes it sound soooooo boring!!
But Me and Christian (and now Jess!!) do try to make this crazy packaging world more exciting.
Anyhooooooo I thought I would post the very first Tiny Box Company newsletter here so you can read what has been happening at the crazy, rock and roll world that is the Tiny Offices.

The Very First Tiny Box Company Very First Newsletter!

Hello lovely customers of ours… and non-customers too!
This is just a quick send-out to let you know what’s been happening in the ‘Tiny’ offices.
Well, due to the demand of people ringing and emailing us asking what the ‘Tiny’ founder Rachel Watkyn is up to and loving her story of how she set up the Tiny Box Company (http://www.tinyboxcompany.co.uk/) and the Fair Trade, Tiny Difference (http://www.tinydifference.com/) we now have a blog! You can subscribe to it at http://www.rachelwatkyn.com/ and find out about what goes on inside Rachel’s mind, her views on things ethical, a great story about fair trade soap that is made in the UK??!!!!! And is the UK really set up for recycling, Rachels now ‘uncool to be green’ post and there is the first of a series of Rachels ‘Why I am helping people’ postings.


Tiny Box Company News:

The Tiny Box Company is still the sole supplier in the UK of only recycled packaging, that’s gift boxes, jewellery boxes and a huge range of recycled bags.
We are continuing to live up to our promise of ‘no minimum order’ because we want to get everybody into recycling. So no matter if you order 10 or 10,000 it’s all cool with us!

Printing;

Due to huge demand we have splashed out on a printing machine so we can offer you ‘hot-foil’ printing on all our products, we have a large number of satisfied customers that is growing all the time along with Rachel’s right arm. We will be putting some pictures of our printed boxes on the Tiny Box website soon so check it to see them.

We offer a very short turnaround time and low cost on our printing. A one off £15 block charge (to have your logo/branding made into a block for printing off of) and then 5p a box or bag. You can’t get cheaper than that anywhere! (Satisfied customers include La Jewellery, Eco-Boudoir and Zanna)

New Products/Ranges Boxes;

We have extended our gift/jewellery box range to include; The ‘chocolate’ collection, the ‘metallic copper’ collection, ‘metallic blue’ collection and now black ring boxes.
Arriving soon are a new range of recycled ‘pillow’ boxes in different sizes, these can of course be printed on.

New Products/Ranges Bags;

The Tiny Box Company already has a huge stock collection of recycled bags in loads of colours and sizes. Add to this our new summer range of 100% recycled bags coming in soon in lemon, light blue and other colours. So now we can provide you with almost any colour of bag!! Some of the new ones are also ‘landscape’ i.e. they are wider rather than taller!!

What people say about us;

We were going to put a ‘testimonial’ or ‘customer comment’ page on our website but we thought that we would just have a link straight to our EBAY feedback page . We did this because there is no way we can influence the views on it, we cannot omit the bad ones and we can’t edit it – so as true as you can get feedback there. You can get to it by following the link on the Tiny Box Company website.

Speaking of EBAY, we now have a fully functioning shop there. We did this to increase awareness of the company on the internet.

Since setting up, the Tiny Box Company has grown so much that we now have 3 warehouses on the premises, with our box/bag stock now taking up 800 sq’ ft!! Most of the boxes of our boxes and bags stand 8 feet high!!! So we are bursting at the seams.

We have installed a new phone system too which means that we now have 4 lines coming in and going out as well as our fax line.

Press;
Rachel has been very busy recently on this front. She has been interviewed on BBC London and BBC Southern Counties; we have been on the front page of ‘Sustained’ magazine (http://www.sustainedmagazine.com/) where you will see Rachy looking a bit orange she says!!! http://www.allthingseco.co.uk/ did a lovely wedding piece on us. Rachel has been approached by TV stations and radio stations looking for a piece of her too.
Look out for upcoming features on Rach’ in Eco Living magazine which is free in Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons and watch out for her speaking at a number of Ethical/FairTrade events throughout the country.Also keep an eye out for our adverts in upcoming editions of Jewellery Focus, Giftware Review and Eco-Living magazine.

Website: http://www.tinyboxcompany.co.uk/
Rachels blog: http://www.rachelwatkyn.com/
Call: +44 (0)1342 322333 Email: christian@tinyboxcompany.com


Thanks guys...

Rachel

Uk packaging companies know nothing!!

Hello friends,

It's Monday morning and I feel dejected ("What!! again???"). Now some of you guys will know that I run the sole UK supplier of recycled packaging it's the Tiny Box Company. Ta da!!!!

So here I am (and there I was last Friday) trying to source more manufacturers for recycled boxes and bags. Now you would think that this would be easy; I call a manufacturer, ask them if they can make recycled boxes and/or recycled bags. They say; 'yes we can' or 'no we can't'.

Well, here's what I had to endure when I asked that simple question:

One manufacturer said that recycled is out and nobody wants it! What???

One said that there is absolutely no proof that plastic bags harm anything and to back up his argument forwarded me this email to 'prove it'!!

"This has been going on for years with the Government, since 1997!
Other governments have always seen the sense from Science, but Gordon has a good mate in the Editor of the Daily Mail
and has only made this statement to produce a smoke screen to cover the real issues on CO2 emissions! Poly bags hardly produce any!
Have you every seen any printed scientific data on the subject !?!? (read attached)
People are responsible for not disposing of litter in the right way!
In Ireland they are using more polythene since the tax in the form of Refuse sacks, as nobody is using the Poly Supermarket bag to line their bins at
Home any more. Instead they are using a refuse sack which is made out of thicker polythene and 7 times as big as 1 give away carrier.
15 years ago the Government had the option to invest in fully captive incineration units for burning all waste and turning it back in to energy!
They did not do this. They have also had the opportunity to invest in fully managed local recycling plants for all waste products, including, paper, polythene,
Glass, metals! However, they have preferred not to!?!? Instead spending further billions on defence!
At the end of the day, yes we should re-use and reduce where possible, but not pick on one item which is 0.01 % of land fill! When the alternatives, like
Paper create even more carbon in the production and recycling process, using 4 time as much energy and water then when making a poly bag!!
When paper has been recycled 4/5 times the fibre turns into no recyclable pulp, ends up in land fill and give off a lot of methane, which is a Co2 gas.!??
Subject: FW: A bit of balance at last!
Some of you may well have seen this article in the Times on Saturday which almost appears as if it has been written by using the CBC website, however clearly the Times has investigated very deeply the claims of carrier bags damaging the marine environment, with a conclusion that most of the plastic found in marine life has actually come from fishing nets.
We are seeing a number of more balanced articles appearing in the press but this is the best yet, thanks to Bill, Attila, Josh and Dave for highlighting the article so quickly.
We will ensure the Times receives all of our updated information so that they can hopefully build on the article.
Gordon Brown is being shown in a poor light with regard to his focus away from the bigger issues, we will be watching the budget comment carefully this week in case he tries once again to divert attention with comments and potential taxes on carrier bags. Don't forget the London Bill comes up for a further vote this Thursday, which we are again attempting to block. Please use your MP contacts to help in this process if you can.
Kind regards,
++++++++++ (Name withheld)
Chief Executive of a packaging company whose slogan is:
Innovative Flexible Packaging Reduces Food Waste and Increases Shelf Life


Another told me that all their products are 'recyclable' and when I patiently pointed out that NEARLY EVERYTHING IS 'RECYCLABLE' she told me that 'they only use wood from sustainable forests'. I tried my best to tell her that they are not actually anything near recycled she huffed and put the phone down.

I have saved the best for last;

I was pleasantly suprised when one company this morning proudly said, 'yes our products are fully recycled'. Emails then went back and forth regarding my requirements (measurements etc).
Then because I have the reputation of my company to keep, I asked for an official statement from the company I was dealing with that said 'Yes' to recycled that... well their bags were just that, recycled.

They sent it to me and it said, "All our bags are made from wood pulp that comes from sustainable forests...". There was not one mention of recycled. That's because dear reader they lied!

How many people have thought they were 'being green' and actually purchased from a friendly voice that said yes when asked about 'recycled'?

Buyer beware.

Rachel Watkyn Super Sleuth and Tiny Box Company founder

A lovely answer to the question 'What is Fair Trade?'

Hello lovely people... for those of you who haven't actually subscribed yet... it's dead easy; the easiest is by putting your email address in the space on the right and hit the 'subscribe' button. You will get a verification message sent to your email address, click on the link and Bob's yer uncle!!

Right then, I had loads of replies and emails answering the question, 'What is Fair Trade?' Here's one that was sent to me (rachel@rachelwatkyn.com) by a one of my email subscribers , thanks so much Peter

Hi Rachel
About a year ago I attended a meeting of people who were working towards making our town (Dawlish, Devon) a Fair Trade Town. The guest speaker was from CAFOD whose job was to set up and inspect fair trade partners in the poorer countries and had experienced first hand the problems and appalling conditions of people in those countries. In attempting to answer that question "What is Fair Trade" he suggested that it is where the producer sells direct to his neighbours, as under those conditions where each side of the deal know each other and live and work locally then the fairest exchange is arrived at. The more middlemen, the bigger the marker place, the bigger bucks to be made, the unfairer it tends to get. The tea and coffee etc that are currently marketed in this country as "fair trade" are not exactly fair, just fairer than it could be, and so worth supporting if it helps relieve poverty. The speaker whose name I have forgotten if not his message went further, saying it might be better if we in the "West" did not drink these brews and allowed many more poorer people to grow native food crops to trade locally, rather than work in cash crop plantations. This obvioulsy is not always the case, but it throws open the wider ethical debate on world trade. We make jewellery a lot of which is sold to local people, the fact that many keep on coming back suggest we are doing something right and which is appreciated. In order to do this (and compete with imported jewellery like yours (http://www.tinydifference.com) , made where labour is a lot cheaper) we often work longer hours than the Working Time Directive and at the end of the year find we that have earnt less than the National Minimum Wage, however I am quite sure we are still better off than many in the third world. So whats fair?
Peter Vivian Gallery
http://www.viviangallery.co.uk/


Love and peace,

Rachel
Tiny Box and Tiny Difference Founder

Please tell me what is 'Fair Trade'?

Hello,

Ok answers to me please at rachel@rachelwatkyn.com the question is; What is Fair Trade?
Now before you click the link and rave on to me about fair wages and working conditions for people who can be/are exploited in the poorer parts of our world and how 'fair trade is giving these people...' etc etc

Is that really what Fair Trade is?

Let me explain; I founded Tiny Difference last year with the sole intention of being completely fair trade. From the silver we use (we get it directly from the Ghanaian government as it is impossible to know if any mines are completely ethical) to the workers having a fair wage (each of my workshops in Africa is IFAT registered) to even giving 20% profit back into the poorer areas to help them become self-sustaining.
Now dear reader I am perplexed for I am reading and hearing people bandying 'fair trade' in regards to almost everything these days (see my previous 'soap' rant on this blog).

Is my interpretation of this 'fair trade' thing incorrect... am I to take it that fair trade can be used in any country that gives it's workers a fair wage and fair working conditions, UK and US included? Now I am not having a go or trying to get a reaction from you, merely asking a simple question. If I pay my workers here in the UK £7.00 an hour for their labour can i say that my UK operation is fair trade? If I pay my African workers $1.00 a day is that fair trade?

I know that a recognised Fair Trade body is in operation for coffee and foodstuffs and they are extending it to include other products. Will they be able to label my other company Tiny Box Company fair trade?

What exactly constitutes 'fair trade'?

Rachel