Monteverde, Costa Rica (now based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) · Est. 2000 · Founded by Amy & Michael
In 2000 Amy and Michael were living in Monteverde, Costa Rica -- in the cloud forest -- teaching art classes at a community center for women, learning about fair trade over cups of coffee, and falling in love with what the artisans around them were making. They started sharing those pieces at fairs and church sales and school events. Twenty-five years later, Women of the Cloud Forest works directly with small family workshops and cooperatives in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, and Nepal, provides no-interest micro-loans for workshop capacity, and sells to over 1,500 stores across the US and Canada. From two Rubbermaid containers to a rehabbed warehouse in Pittsburgh. The craft is still the whole point.
Amy and Michael didn't set out to build a fair trade organization. They set out to live in the cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica, and see what happened. What happened was art classes at a community center for women, cups of coffee that turned into conversations about fair trade, and a growing conviction that the handmade work being produced by the artisans around them deserved to reach a wider world.
They started simply -- carrying pieces back to the US and selling them at fairs, church sales, and school events, working out of their house and a couple of Rubbermaid containers. Two friends, Marla and Sue, joined along the way: Marla with a gift for organization and logistics, Sue with a talent for sales and marketing. The team grew. The work expanded. Today Women of the Cloud Forest operates from a rehabbed warehouse in Pittsburgh, maintaining direct long-term relationships with small family workshops and cooperatives in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, and Nepal -- the kind of relationships built over decades, not sourcing seasons.
Beyond placing consistent orders, the organization provides business training, product development support, no-interest micro-loans for workshop capacity building, donations of trees for reforestation, and energy-efficient eco-stoves for artisan families. The products -- handmade ceramics, balsa ornaments, natural seed jewelry, woven accessories, recycled aluminum pieces -- carry the full weight of those relationships in every detail. On a registry, Women of the Cloud Forest is the category where every purchase is a vote for the world you want to live in -- and the objects are beautiful enough that you'd want them anyway.
