This crisis is affecting Guatemala a lot and our artisans in particular. Continued support to the artisans of Guatemala is very important since many Guatemalans work in USA, but now there are few jobs. They are even being sent back to Guatemala. Much of the rural income is dependant on this money being sent from their relatives working in the USA. That money is now drying out. One of the only alternative incomes these people have in the rural areas is making handicrafts like the worry dolls you buy from us. Buying these items continuously from us is a great help for the people in rural areas. We are very happy for your support and our long business relationship.

Jeremy Piercy, Shared Earth’s MD and Buyer, visited our supplier and many of the artisans in Guatemala in September 2019. Their main office includes packers, two designers as well as their sales team, a printshop and a workshop where they make wooden display boxes for their products. It’s in Antigua, an old historical town with cobbled streets, and the artisans who make the worry dolls and other products are scattered around the area, working in their homes. This has enabled them to continue working during the lockdown.

Stress balls are perfect to release stress, just squeeze them! The video below shows them being made.

They are entirely handmade by Mayan People in Guatemala for whom stress is an unknown feeling.