International Women's Day: March 8, 2023
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is “Embrace Equity,” and in the spirit of that campaign, Love Travels Imports would like to introduce Christelle Paul. Christelle Paul is the founder of Atelier Calla, a horn and wood-based jewelry, tableware and home décor shop in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Faced with tough conditions and systemic disadvantages, her work is an example of her belief in the importance of development for all, and how she advocates for equity in improving outcomes for her artisans.
Christelle started Atelier Calla almost eleven years ago as the only woman on the team. She started working with a group of male artisans who made jewelry pieces, and she did the finishing, which involves measuring, cutting, and wire-wrapping. At the beginning, they had no physical structure or workspace.
Today, Christelle’s team has grown to 12 employees, including four other women. Christelle’s female artisans have high school diplomas and come from backgrounds such as nail salon and sewing shop work. She is grateful to still have on staff the same artisans from when she started, and also for the opportunity to develop deeper partnerships with five other artisan groups she works with. She says “despite turmoil we are still here.”
In Haiti, Christelle says, they have been living in chaos, and finding raw materials for her products is difficult. Atelier Calla uses about 20% imported materials, like beads for example, but the majority of the materials are from the Haitian provinces, and the transport situation is dire. Many roads are blocked and fuel prices have more than doubled. The shop is 90% dependent on a diesel generator, and having to pay higher fuel prices affects her ability to be competitive.
Because of safety issues and unrest, Christelle is focused on the day-to-day aspects of operation right now, even though her artisans are not working a normal daily schedule. Currently, artisans are working only maybe four days a week so as not to be in the street unnecessarily.
Christelle draws strength from her faith and says, “God is with us, he’s really watching over us. I ask for guidance every day.” She has learned to “not to be afraid to ask for what we need.”
Looking forward into 2023, she says, “last year was so unpredictable making plans was basically impossible.” This year some of her goals are to strengthen partnerships she already has and diversify clientele. Her biggest pride is keeping the products on time. “We could’ve been further,” she says, and she prays for confidence to project more than one month into the future. “I'm really happy Yvette is rooting for Haiti and the products that we make. There is so much possibility.”
