Swinging Gnome Ornament

Jacque's work with artisan began in 1977 in her early twenties, when she briefly opened an import store and began to travel to acquire goods for sale in her retail shop. Her love affair with artisan-made hand crafted goods began in Guatemala, where she traversed the tiny crooked streets of Panajachel and Tehuantepec looking for richly colored and wildly embroidered traditional textiles, full of the rich tapestry of cultural identities.

Thus began a 30+year journey through a veritable jungle of retail and wholesale experiences. She owned a Guatemalan/Indonesian import store and a custom sewing business, worked in a Broadway costume shop, in film, at a Madison Avenue millinery shop, managed a holistic learning center bookshop. She also consulted on product development with Aid to Artisans and have gave workshops running a small import business with Action for Enterprise, and continues to give workshops on trends, color and design.

These many years of experience traveling in Asia and Africa working hands-on with artisan groups teaching design and product development skills gave Jacque a range of experience and exposure to the challenges and opportunities inherent in working with artisan groups.

She is currently the Design and Marketing Director for dZi Inc., a mission-based fair trade company and founding member of the Fair Trade Federation. Her current job includes branding, logo and package design, print advertising, web and catalog layout and design, trends and market research, copy writing, product development and Artisan training workshops. Graduate of PSU with a BA in Painting and English.