Childhood friends found market in U.S. for crafts to support South African artisans

Ten years ago, childhood friends Becky Riess and Kris Engle were in a transition in their lives and careers. Riess had just left her job of 27 years in sales and marketingat Kimberly Clark. Engle, an entrepreneur, had just moved with her husband from India to South Africa.

They both wanted their next ventures to make a difference far beyond their own lives.

Their business, Thumbprint Artifacts, sells products made by artisans in South Africa. Many of the products are home decor items such as candles and crafts that are handmade by the artisans.

“I was at a point in life that I wanted to do something that would not only be fulfilling on a personal level, but also have a positive impact on others,” said Engle, who lives in South Africa. “Fortunately, my lifelong friend Becky was at the same point in life.”

As a member of the Fair Trade Federation, Thumbprint Artifacts primarily purchases its products directly from artisans, who set their own prices. This “positively impacts employment security and assists to build sustainable and profitable businesses,” the company's website says. About 90% of the artisans are single mothers.

Ronnie Daniels is one of these artisans. She works for Kapula Candles, one of the companies in South Africa that Thumbprint Artifacts represents in the U.S. Kapula Candles' products are typically bestsellers at Thumbprint Artifacts. Daniels has been with Kapula for 21 years.

“I was just a normal person with no background, no experience, no degree from school and two daughters to support,” Daniels told Engle, who shared Daniels' quotes and experiences with the Free Press.

Before being hired by Kapula Candles, Daniels had just given birth to her second daughter and needed a job. The last person to hand in her resume, Daniels did not expect to get a call back. However, people who interviewed her for the job at Kapula had also worked with her during a previous job at the local grocery store. Soon, Daniels was hired as a candle painter for Kapula.

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Daniels is now a supervisor of 26 candle painters at Kapula. She says her job has been life-changing.

Thumbprint Artifacts has played a significant role in this. Tourism accounts for much of the revenue at Kapula. With the onset of the pandemic, tourism in South Africa came to a halt, meaning sales at Kapula became largely dependent on Thumbprint Artifacts’ distribution in the U.S.

“During COVID, we kept asking, ‘how can we help these artisans?’ So we kept selling,” Riess said. “We actually had a record year in 2020.”

The business, located in Detroit along the border of Corktown and Mexicantown, continues to grow. Reiss said Thumbprint Artifacts also achieved record in revenue in 2021. She expects revenue to increase 75% this year.

Since 2012, the business Riess and Engle envisioned would be a "small gifting site has grown to work with a nearly a half dozen vendors, more than 180 artisans and sells to more than 500 retailers, including 50 museums. In their quest to find a fulfillment center that would move the business out of Riess' home in 2015, the partners learned there were few options in the region that would work for Thumbprint. In 2018, the partners opened their own fulfillment center and started a separate business that offers gift assembly and shipping to other companies.

But Riess says she measures her company's success by the difference they're making for artisans in South Africa.

“Not only do people like the products, they like the story behind the products,” Riess said. “It really is engaging to customers to hear how the products were made, where they were made, who they were impacting with the purchase, and all of that.”

While they have connections in other countries, Thumbprint Artifacts’ focuses on helping artisans in South Africa, a country with about a 34% unemployment rate, according to Statistics South Africa, a government agency that keeps track of demographic data.

South Africa is “one of the most unequal countries in the world,” according to the World Bank. Although the apartheid formally came to an end in 1994, inequality has remained high. The richest 10% of the population holds about 80% of the country’s wealth.

While she was aware of these issues, Engle, who grew up in Okemos, said she was drawn to South Africa because of its beauty and diversity. Engle noted the country's array of cultures and official languages.

The artisans at Kapula take great pride in their work. Daniels says that her work means "everything to her, and that it has given her an opportunity that people in her community “can only dream about.”

Daniels asks that whenever someone lights a Kapula candle, that they light it for all of the workers at Kapula.

"Not only those artisans who paint the candles, but for those who make the candles, pack the candles, clean the workshop ... They are all grateful for the impact it makes on their lives," Daniels said through Engle.

Daniels said: "Each candle is special because each artisan is special."

Ruby Go, a senior at Washtenaw Technical Middle College, was a Detroit Free Press Summer Apprentice

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Thumbprint Artifacts in Corktown sells decor handmade in South Africa