I found this “new” website, 925e.com, its company is a wholesale silver jewelry supplier from Thailand (established in September 1995 in Bangkok, so I can say they have experience in online selling). Also, they have more than 30 employees; practically a well organized company in wholesale jewelry that has been serving thousands of customers from around the globe since 1995.
The fascination of Thailand
Ok, there are so many websites in the jewelry wholesale industry, why this one picked my attention? The reasons are many: the website graphics is simple but very effective and elegant, there are good discounts, an impressive availability of new products and designs every month, the prices are really low.
And, of course, in all the designs you can feel the fascination and traditions of a beautiful country like Thailand.
The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country which lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. The country is bordered by Laos and Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia.
This is just to have an idea of where Thailand is and why it is so charming.
Thailand is one of the most strongly Buddhist countries in the world. The cultures and traditions in Thailand are significantly influenced by those of India, China, Cambodia. Thailand people are also well-known for their friendliness and hospitality, leading to the country’s so called reputation as the “Land of Smiles.”
The availability of elephants, exotic jungle and beach settings, relatively low production costs, and a mature domestic film industry that provides a legion of experienced crew members, have made Thailand also an attractive location for many Hollywood films and other foreign productions.
Films set in Thailand include “Around the World in Eighty Days”, “The Big Boss”, “The Man with the Golden Gun” and “The Beach”.
I’m sure you’ve seen one of these movies, so if you loved the settings, you loved Thailand natural landscapes, jungles and elephants.
And of course there is silver jewelry. Crafting silver jewelry is a long-standing tradition in Thailand.
You can find all the spirituality of this Buddhist country in the designs. Just browse 925e.com lists to have an idea of what I mean.
Jared W. Olen, founder of OlenJewelry.com, made an intense trip and his story is featured in this article. Olen Jewelry is an international retailer of high-quality, sterling silver jewelry. Jared told me a fascinating story about the campaign he will start soon and that will have the name Fair Trade Silver.
An intense trip in the profound Mexico
My idea for Fair Trade Silver came from a trip I took in May of 2006 to Mexico. My best friend, Kim, and I flew into Benito Júarez International Airport in Mexico City. We had worked since that January to plan a trip to see the “real” Mexico, that is, a trip that did not include staying in Americanized hotels and resorts.
While reading Jared story I thought, well, this is a really nice experience, in Mexico, culture and tradition are seen as central to life and society and Mexican people are profound and warm, not at all superficial. But you can’t understand their traditions if you stay in hotel. I continued to read his story…
My main goal for visiting Mexico was to visit Taxco in the Mexican state of Guerrero.
Taxco de Alarcón (Taxco) is a former colonial silver-mining center in the northern part of the Mexican state of Guerrero on the western arm of the Sierra Madre del Sur. It is located 200 km southwest of Mexico City along the old highway to Acapulco at an elevation of 1,800 m (5,900 ft).
…Taxco is known by many as the sterling silver capital of the world for it is home to countless shops that sell beautiful machine- and hand-crafted sterling silver jewelry made from silver mined just outside the town.
Taxco reminds me of quaint European town with its narrow, cobblestone streets and white-washed buildings that are perched on the side of a mountain. When one visits Taxco it is shocking to see how purely “un-Americanized” it really is. There are no Wal-Mart nor are there other corporate giants.
I love corporate giants :) and I would love to see a Wal-Mart in Italy, but this time I really envied Jared for this experience. The Aztecs founded a city they called “Tlacho”… what artistic treasures Jared will find?
…the silver trade in Taxco relies on buyers that travel from around Mexico, the United States, and the rest of the world to Taxco with cash in hand to purchase goods to bring back to their stores. I met many buyers there on their annual buying trips for stores in the United States and Canada. What really struck me, however, was the indigenous population that lives nearby.
Taxco has an “Indian Market” where indigenous people descend from the mountainside every day to display and sell hand-made goods to the citizens and visitors of Taxco. I thought to myself what a great idea it would be to establish a reliable international silver trade network between the silver shops and artisans in Taxco and the rest of the world.
As Olen Jewelry moves into the future, I am exploring the possibility of opening a community crafting center in or around Taxco where local artisans can use the workspace for free to create their jewelry. I will then bring their goods to the United States where they can be sold to the mass-market. All artisans will receive the majority of the proceeds from the sale of their jewelry. In this way, those people who do not have the money to invest in equipment and raw materials can still put themselves to work creating jewelry that truly is an expression of themselves and of Mexico.
This is admirable… well, a good business idea, of course, but also admirable, indeed. And we wish Jared to succeed in this project! We’ll post an update about this in the future.
