Archive for the category "Germany"

Indian teenage photographer meets customers in Europe

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
Dhiraj giving a television interview in Wurzburg

Dhiraj giving a television interview in Wurzburg

From the 11th of June until the 3rd of July FairMail organized its third European promotional tour. Guest of honor during the 3 week road trips was FairMail India Photographer Dhiraj Kannaujia. FairMail invited him to come to Europe to tell the unique story behind his cards and to learn more about the greeting card market.

Both goals where achieved with success. Dhiraj gave no less than 12 interviews for the television, radio, newspapers and magazines in the Netherlands, Germany and France. To learn more about the market he visited 5 of FairMail’s publishers in the same countries plus Switzerland. During the tour we also visited business customers like the Dutch ethical ASN Bank, a consumer festival in the Netherlands and 5 FairMail selling points in Germany. In France Dhiraj presented FairMail during three regional meetings of the sales representatives of La Carterie who will be promoting their new range of ethical cards and calendar.

Click here to see the slideshow about the trip.

Below you can read or click and view a few of the media that reported on Dhiraj’s visit like:

• Dutch Trouw Newspaper interview (see below)

• German Television Report

• Dutch World Broadcasting service interview

• Dutch Article in One World Magazine

• German Newspaper articles 1&2 (see below)

• German Magazine articles 1&2

• Dutch Greetz interview

• Dutch article in My World

• Dutch article in India NU

Dutch article in National Trouw Newspaper

Dutch article in National Trouw Newspaper

German Newspaper Article

German Newspaper Article

Second German Newspaper article

Second German Newspaper article

Indian photographers greet Europe

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

Two Indian teenage photographers will travel to Europe to tell the unique story behind their fairtrade greetings cards: How by taking pictures for their own greeting cards they where able to improve their life and pay for their own education. During the last three years the teenagers sold more then 1 million cards in 14 countries. Now they have become inspiring examples for their surrounding showing that they have the will and creativity to break the chain of poverty themselves.

The teenage photographers from India will travel through the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland taking with them a photo exhibition, a documentary about their lives and participating in different public events. This will take place between the 11th of June and the 3rd of July. On the 12th of June there will be a kick-off event for the tour in Cafe Noorderlicht on the NDSM terrain in Amsterdam.

Download your invitation for this event here.

Both teenagers of 16 and 19 years old live in the Nagwa slum of the Indian city of Varanasi. It is in this part of the city that many inhabitants come from the lower castes in Indian society of which some earn an income collecting animal dung and leather tanners. Many of the youngsters are forced to work at a young age to supplement the family income. This means there is no time and no money to go to school. With FairMail they earn the money that is necessary to go to school by themselves.

FairMail is a company that produces fair trade greeting cards in Peru, India and soon in Morocco too! The pictures on the FairMail cards are taken by deprived teenagers from Peru, India and Morocco. On the back of each card you can see the name, age, email, age and picture of the teenager who took the picture. FairMail provides these teenagers with free photography training, part-time work, health insurance and guidance in making their future plans. The teenagers receive 50% of the profit made from the sale of their own cards to finance their housing and education. FairMail is a monitored member of the World Fair Trade Organization.

Schedule FairMail Promotion Tour June 2012

You are more then welcome to visit any of the activities below:

Date Activity
mon 11 June Leave Delhi, arrival in Amsterdam (05.45 am), Relax
Tue 12 June Amsterdam tour, visit World Press Photo 19.30 Kick-off event Café Noorderlicht, NDSM terrain, Amsterdam
Wed 13 June Waalwijk, Context Cards logistics & market research
Thurs 14 June The Hague: ASN Bank office Delft: Stanislas College, Delft worldshop & presentation
Fri 15 June Amstedam: Greetz headquarters & market research & interview
Sat 16 June Festival Mundial Tilburg – photo exhibition
Sun 17 June Festival Mundial Tilburg – photo exhibition
Mon 18 June Culemborg: Visit Cash & Carry Fair Trade Original. Travel to Hamburg, relax & welcome party
Tues 19 June Hamburg & Kiel: shop visit
Wed 20 June Munster & Halle: visit shop and distribution center
Thurs 21 June Wurzburg: shop visit and interview
Fri 22 June Geneve: Visit to Co-op supermarket in Zurich and interview
Sat 23 June Freiburg: Visit shop
Sun 24 June Freiburg: Visit Europapark
Mon 25 June Travel to Paris
Tues 26 June Free in Paris
Wed 27 June Paris: meet La Carterie marketing team, photographer and interview
Thurs 28 June Reims: meet sales team Reims & interview
Fri 29 June Rennes: meet sales team Rennes & interview
Sat 30 June Back to Amsterdam and free
Sun 1 July Amsterdam: Free
Mon 2 July Amsterdam: write marketing report and make presentation for FairMail India team
Tues 3 July Amsterdam: Departure to (11.30 am), arrival India (22.50 pm)

FairMail’s European promotion tour ready to start

Friday, May 18th, 2012

FairMail is ready to get started with it’s European promotional tour that will take place from the 11th of June until the 3rd of July 2012. Special guests are two of FairMail India’s teenage photographers, Dhiraj and Anil. We just thought “Who is better at explaining the unique story behind the FairMail Cards and the impact it has on the life of its teenage photographers than the photographers themselves?”

Destinations

During the three week tour they will be visiting The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium (download the itinerary here). In each country they will be promoting FairMail via interviews with the media, meetings with the shops and sales people that sell their cards and of course directly with the people that buy their cards at public music festivals. Besides promotion the other goal of the trip is that they investigate “their” Western greeting card market. What kind of pictures sell well, what are the latest trends and what is the competition doing? Back home in India they will present and share their valuable market knowledge with their fellow young photographers so the whole team is better equipped to sell to their main market. Besides these “serious” goals the trip will simple be the trip of their lifetime and a chance to meet up with former photography volunteers and participant of the photography trips to India in the past. What an experience!

Meet the teenagers

For you it is a unique possibility to meet the teenagers in person, hear their personal story and ask any questions you want. Feel free to hook up with us anywhere along the road. Find out when we will be close to you by downloading the travel itinerary here.

On the 12 of June we are also organizing a kick-off event for the tour in Amsterdam. The teenagers will present themselves, we will be showing a movie about their life in India and what there work for FairMail looks like, opening of a photography exhibition and an American auction of one of their photographs. It will be a big party and a great chance to meet them. You can download your invitation here.

For more information about the promotional tour, meeting the teenagers of for organizing an interview with them please contact Peter:

peter@fairmail.info

00-31-(0)6-52020467

Two Indian FairMail teenagers visit Europe in June

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

FairMail India photographer Dhiraj

FairMail India photographer Dhiraj

What’s happening?

In June two Indian FairMail teenagers are coming to Europe to promote their greeting cards and learn more about the European card market they sell their pictures to. If all goes according to plan Anil Rao (15 years old) and Dhiraj Kannaujiya (19 years old) will travel through Europe between the 11th of June and the 3rd of July 2012. During this period they will visit the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium.

FairMail India photographer Anil

FairMail India photographer Anil

Preparations being made:

We are currently busy preparing their travel schedule in which they will visit their most important clients, do press interviews, open picture exhibitions and sell their cards directly to consumers at different consumer festivals. If you have any suggestions or contacts to help get press coverage for the teenagers’s visit please contact us by clicking here!

Hope for the best & pray for the rest:

Now all we have to hope for is that also Anil gets his passport in time (he has already been waiting over 7 months!) and that the visa application on Monday the first of May goes well.

A big thank you for:

The Promotional tour would not have been possible without the kind financial and organizational support of: FairMail Distribution Partner in Germany, La Carterie in France, Fair Trade shop in Delft and the Fair Media Foundation in the Netherlands.

New FairMail collection hits Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
New German FairMail Card

New German FairMail Card

Sales of FairMail Cards in the German speaking countries have received a boost with a new tailor made German FairMail Card collection (click here for the new postcards, greeting cards and midi cards). To increase the quality of the designs and the service provided to the shops, the collection was developed in partnership with i) picture & concept provider “FairMail Cards”, ii) art house “FairMail Distribution Partner UG” and iii) card distributor “Cards & Arts”. By combining forces almost 150 new spinners have been placed in Germany, Switzerland and Austria in the first four months (click here to find a shop location near you).

New German FairMail Card

New German FairMail Card

FairMail’s German partners are very committed to making FairMail a success in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. That is why they will be attending many trade fairs with the new collection (click here to download the flyer), have developed German promotional materials, are working on a German FairMail site and will host one week of the European promotion tour with two teenage photographers from FairMail India (click here for more information).

New German FairMail Card

New German FairMail Card

We can still use your help though! Only with increased sales will it be possible for FairMail to train new teenagers in Morocco, South Africa and Indonesia. If you know of a shop near you that might be interested to sell German FairMail Cards, please send their details to us by clicking here. Then we will make sure the shop owner receives the necessary information about selling FairMail Cards. Or you can provide them with an information package which you can find by clicking here. Also if you have any useful media contacts that might want to report about the Indian teenagers’ visit to Germany, if you are interested in helping to volunteer during the preparation of the trip or during the trip itself please click here.

FairMail cards concur western europe

Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Elmer and Maria flor make it to the Eiffel tower!

Elmer and Maria flor make it to the Eiffel tower!

In June FairMail organized a European Promotional tour with two of our Peruvian photographers Elmer and Mariaflor. In 21 days they travelled from Berlin to Paris and from Brussel to München. The goal was to promote FairMail and to conduct market research to the teenage photographers can adapt their pictures even better to the different wishes from the market FairMail is now active in.

It was a unforgettable trip for both of the teenagers, who had never even been on a plane, but also for Peter and Janneke and all of the ex volunteers who helped out along the way.

You can find a photo impression through this link

The trip summarized in a few numbers:

12 interviews given by Elmer and Mariaflor

3.440 driven kilometres

4 different countries visited

8 FairMail selling points visited

7 distributors and publishers visited

29 ex-volunteers met on the road

photo shoot for fair trade banana promostunt

photo shoot for fair trade banana promostunt

Interview for Dutch Ode Magazine

Interview for Dutch Ode Magazine

photo shoot for German newspaper

photo shoot for German newspaper