About Us
“Rangi Mingi” means many colors in Swahili, a Bantu language spoken widely through East Africa.
Africa is rich in diversity, rich in culture, and rich in color.
Rangi Mingi Gallery celebrates Africa’s beauty by producing, promoting, and selling African arts and crafts.
Our Mission
Rangi Mingi Gallery is dedicated to promoting the rich beauty, color, and diversity of Africa, developing working ethical relationships with local artisans, and marketing their work to a larger audience.
We do this by
- Providing a sustainable income for talented and hard-working artisans by promoting the production and distribution of their art.
- Maintaining a strong commitment to Fair Trade principles in all
of our dealings with artisans and their products.
- Providing customers with both authentic and quality-made
artifacts as well as an opportunity to directly support African artisans.
- Encouraging art-making as a vehicle of communication, community empowerment, and relationship building.
What Does “Fair Trade” Mean?
Fair trade is a growing international movement ensuring that buyers and producers
engage in ethical trade relationships that allow both parties to celebrate their human dignity.
Fair Trade encompasses a range of goods from agricultural products to art work to clothing and household items. At Rangi Mingi Gallery we deal primarily with art, jewelry, accessories, and home accessories.
Today’s profit-ruled global economy favors large corporations over small-scale producers, making it very difficult for individual farmers, artisans, and skilled laborers to make a living off their trade. Unfortunately current trade laws do not seem to discourage mass exploitation of skilled laborers by multi-national corporations. Fair trade attempts to remedy some of the injustices propounded by free trade by focusing on trading with poor and marginalized producer groups, helping them develop skills and sustainable livelihoods through trading relationships.
“Fair” means that producers receive
- A price for their goods that covers the cost of production and guarantees a sustainable living.
- Long term contracts with buyers to provide business security in a shifting worldwide market
which tends to favor multi-national corporations and mass producers over small-scale family-based businesses.
- Entrepreneurial development and skills training to increase knowledge, business development, and sales.
We are dedicated to doing our part to address underlying causes of poverty and hunger by developing fair trade relationships with artisans in the developing world and providing opportunities for people in the United States to practice their power to purchase by supporting fair trade. Monumental changes happen when individuals come together in making life-styel choices that benefit the greater cause of our global community.
Frequently Asked Questions
How was Rangi Mingi Gallery started?
Holly Elzinga was inspired to start Rangi Mingi Gallery while working at a child development organization in Kampala, Uganda. She was teaching functional art skills to children living in an underprivileged community and learning about the rich beauty of Ugandan art and craft. While researching community art skills and developing relationships with local artisans, the idea of Rangi Mingi began to germinate. A year later, Rangi Mingi Gallery was started as a fair trade cooperative extending from transcontinental relationships with a vision to make our dreams a reality. We hope you enjoy our stories and our products!
Since your work comes from a variety of different artisans, how can I be sure about product quality?
Two reasons: first, we work with artists who are skilled in their work and proud of their art. Everything we sell has been carefully and lovingly crafted, and quality is assured. Secondly, all of the work is carefully inspected for quality, authenticity, and durability to assure that customers will receive a work of art they are proud of.
I am an artist who works with African or African inspired art; can I sell products on your website?
Yes, we are willing to work with new artisans. Please contact us with information about what kind of art you do, where you are located, and what your hopes are in working with Rangi Mingi Gallery.
Where in Africa do most of your artisans come from?
The artisans we work with are primarily from Uganda and Kenya, but we are open to working with any artisans who are inspired and driven to celebrate the beauty of the African continent through their art. The beauty of Africa has inspired artists from a diversity of cultural backgrounds and geographic locations and we feature quality and sustainable work from any of these artisans.
Payment, shipping, ordering, returns
Payment
All purchases from RangiMingiGallery.com are securely processed by Paypal. If you do not already have a Paypal account, it is easy and free to sign up!When your order is processed, we will send you a shipping notification email.
Shipping
All orders shipped within the continental US are shipped via United States Postal Service. All international orders are shipped Global Express Mail.
Return Policy
Only store credit is given for returns. Please contact us if you would like to make an exchange or get store credit at 630-532-7050 or info@rangimingigallery.com.
Privacy Policy
We respect your privacy. We will never sell, loan, give away, show, or otherwise share any personal information our customers give us.
|
| |
|
