silk & studs
Cambodian Silk Studded Totes by Green Gecko. Simply ask yourself, isn’t it time for a new bag. The answer usually is, why yes it is. These are tres chic and will go with anything. So don’ t fight it doll.
The story and the bags are amazing…here is the scoop:
Green Gecko’s products are handmade of 100% loom-woven silk. Rather than in factories, they are made in women’s cooperatives. This worthy enterprise provides jobs to Cambodian women, many of whom are landmine victims or widows.
Enjoy your exquisite work of handmade beauty from a socially responsible and eco-conscious small business.
Get your very own, at elegantroots.com
The Beginning
In 1979, Harriet Brener-Sam was the Program Director of Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Law Center. She first worked for the benefit of Cambodians upon the fall of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime by assisting hundreds of refugees to resettle in the USA.
Harriet’s work for Cambodians continued with the United Nations Border Relief on the Thai-Cambodian border. With her Cambodian husband, Harriet worked tirelessly with Cambodian families. Continuing despite her husband’s death in 1997, Harriet founded Brener-Sam Associates to help facilitate the adoption of Cambodian orphans. In 1999, Harriet founded the not-for-profit Khmer Children’s Foundation dedicated to providing a home and education for those orphans in Cambodia who were not adopted.
Harriet seems never to rest. In 2001, Harriet adopted a Cambodian orphan, pictured with her above. She next founded Green Gecko (named because of her daughter’s fascination with geckos) to provide well-paid work for needy artisans by bringing fresh designs of Cambodia’s extraordinarily beautiful “wearable art” to wider markets.
Harriet first established Green Gecko relationships with co-operatives of women’s sewing groups and the National Cambodian Disability Program, including partnering with talented designer Thanan. The following year, she added partnerships with weavers in Takeo and Phnom Penh and Green Gecko has continued to grow ever since.
The Heart
Green Gecko specializes in designing and creating high quality, handcrafted, 100% Cambodian silk accessories. Each of Green Gecko’s lovely designs is created from start to finish by Cambodian women’s cooperatives that hand-spin, hand-sew and hand-weave the silk using techniques passed down from generation to generation.
Harriet established Green Gecko to provide work to the neediest artisans, including land-mine victims and widowed mothers, which was a natural extension of her humanitarian work. She insists on working conditions that support family and local tradition—no factories allowed! Most artisans work from home so they can tend to their children and families. They create their wearable art using traditional looms and old-fashioned treadle machines, since they live too remotely to have electricity.
The Highlights
Great hearts like Harriet’s beat tirelessly and they accomplish amazing things! Harriet recognized that she could help support the most economically marginalized women in Cambodia by establishing a commercially viable enterprise to provide sustaining income. Instead of just thinking about it, she took action, adding Green Gecko to her other laudable endeavors.
Harriet, we are in awe of your selfless work! We congratulate you on Green Gecko’s social and environmentally sustainable success. We’re honored to offer your exquisite and soulful accessories.
