Above the Fray: Traditional Hill Tribe Art is excited to announce 2020’s “Fine Silks and Tribal Art Safe Holiday Sale.” You will be able to visit us in our Eugene Gallery either in-person or online with a personal shopping visit via Zoom or FaceTime. The event starts Friday, November 20, and will run through December.
Despite needing to cancel our annual events at public venues this Fall in Portland, Sacramento, and Eugene, we do have exciting new hill tribe textiles and other treasures for you to peruse and consider for your holiday shopping.
“New stuff?” you wonder. “How is this possible?” Well, Maren dashed over to Laos and Vietnam in late February and early March – just as the pandemic was starting – and squeaked in a visit to our friends across northern Laos and in northern Vietnam. She managed a “full shop” before escaping home on one of the last regular flights out of Hanoi, lugging with her all the Vietnam inventory.
Our newly-acquired inventory in Laos wasn’t quite so lucky. The day in March it was to ship air-freight was the day Thai Airlines stopped all flights in or out of Laos. Thus, there sat our 15 large boxes of silks, baskets, wood carvings, and more on the tarmac, pre-paid, awaiting a return to normalcy. And awaiting….
We were patient … and then more patient – and we obliquely aligned with the relaxed “go with the flow” attitude that pervades much of the pace of traditional Lao life.
However, ultimately, we are also pragmatic. With no “return to normal” date; with nightmares of the humid Lao air invading and possibly mildewing our shipment; with the bottom-line realization that the weavers and others we help support, as well as our business, actually do depend on sales 🤨; with all this in mind, we sought an alternate shipping procedure. As is the nature of the business world, more cash put more grease on the wheels (and wings) of commerce, and, as the photos document, our boxes arrived in good shape, sans mildew, at our home just this week.
OK – so now that we have the goods (whew!), we are organizing the details of our Holiday event. We will use our own in-home gallery space for layout and display. Eugene shoppers may visit in person (by appointment only, with masks, one person/pod at a time). For our many friends who cannot visit in person, we will offer personal shopping with us using Zoom or Facetime – just contact us to set an appointment. We are also putting together a series of short videos on our website for those who want to “peruse the aisles” before contacting us.
Again, we open November 20 – and we’ll send out formal invitations in a couple of weeks. We trust you are safe and well, and we look forward to sharing some personal time with you this holiday season.