Handmade Expressions

As a global fair trade store, The Welcome Mat sells products from all over the world, sourced by multiple organizations. One of our largest wholesalers, especially for our selections from India, is Handmade Expressions. Founded in 2005 by Manish Gupta, this company partners with multiple NGO's and grassroots artisan co-operatives that source fair trade products from India. Many of the artisans that Handmade Expressions employs have been marginalized in some way, making them innovators in the empowerment of these people, enabling them to compete in the global market through socially and environmentally responsible products.

The Welcome Mat values the legwork that Handmade Expressions undertakes to make it possible for fair trade stores everywhere to obtain these unique items efficiently and reliably. Handmade Expressions believes that "economic sustainability and social empowerment are the keys for community development." With this in mind, it is their mission to bridge the gap between the talented artisans and the modern global market by providing them with the resources to compete with education, fair wages and health care. They also encourage artisans to be environmentally responsible by using as many recycled materials as possible.

As one of a kind and unique as the products made by Handmade Expressions are, the artisans themselves are much more valuable and important. Handmade Expressions gives these hardworking artisans opportunities to better their lives. It is exciting to see the good that Fair Trade is doing all around the globe and it is a movement that The Welcome Mat is certainly proud to support.