About Ten Thousand Villages in Northampton, MA

Home About Our Store Hours Volunteers Events Contact

Ten Thousand Villages in Northampton, MA, is a fair trade retailer of artisan-crafted home decor, personal accessories and gift items from across the globe. Featuring products from more than 130 artisan groups in some 36 countries, we are part of a network of more than 145 retail outlets throughout the United States selling Ten Thousand Villages products.

As one of the world’s oldest and largest fair trade organizations, Ten Thousand Villages has spent more than 60 years cultivating trading relationships in which artisans receive a fair price for their work and consumers have access to distinctive handcrafted items. We seek to establish long-term buying relationships in places where skilled artisans are under- or unemployed, and in which they lack other opportunities for income. A founding member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), Ten Thousand Villages sees fair trade as an alternative approach to conventional international trade.

It is said that if a butterfly flaps its wings in Indonesia, it will affect the weather all the way across the world. At Ten Thousand Villages, we know this to be true. When an artisan paints a table in Peru, a potter makes a beautiful vessel in Laos, or a silversmith in the Congo crafts a necklace, and you purchase it at Ten Thousand Villages, you become part of a chain reaction that helps sustain a family of six, a community of 20, a village of 100, a culture and a way of life that is sometimes centuries old. You have also ensured prosperity can flourish, and quality of life can be improved.

Many of our artisans at Ten Thousand Villages come from countries where war is a daily part of life. When artisans can sustain themselves from the handicrafts they make, they can plan for a better future and live more independently in uncertain economic times.

Come and visit Ten Thousand Villages, where you will find an array of colorful objects from around the world - gifts for your friends, cards, whimsical musical instruments, games, jewelry, furniture and accessories for you and all the rooms in your house.

Ten Thousand Villages: building peace and prosperity throughout the world.

Oriental Rugs News | About Us | Contact Us | Privacy & Security | Site Map