The Liz Lampman Line: Hudson native designs a fair trade line of jewelry

• Liz Lampman next to Water Bead line of jewelry that she designed

Liz Lampman poses next to the Water Bead line of jewelry that she designed. The necklaces, bracelets and earrings are made by a woman in Ghana, Africa, and sold at The Purple Tree in Hudson. Photo by Randy Hanson
• Ellen Eshun of Ghana, Africa, makes beads

Ellen Eshun of Ghana, Africa, makes beads from strips of plastic cut from water bottles. Income from the sale of jewelry made with the beads will help provide a living for Eshun and her two children. Submitted photo

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Hudson native Liz Lampman has designed a line of jewelry made from recycled plastic and glass that promises to provide a living for a woman living in Ghana, Africa.

Lampman, a recent St. Olaf College graduate, served a month-long internship in Ghana with the fair trade organization Global Mamas early this year.

An English major at St. Olaf, Lampman’s main assignment was to write promotional stories for Global Mamas’ website.

But soon after arriving in the capital city of Accra, her supervisor told her about a woman who made beads from plastic water bottles. Global Mamas wanted to purchase beads from the woman to provide her with an income, but didn’t have a way to use them.

The supervisor asked Lampman if she was artistic.

Lampman said she was — and got the assignment of designing a line of jewelry, incorporating the beads.

“I sat down and played with the beads. After about a week I came up with a design for a bracelet, earrings and necklace,” Lampman said during a visit to The Purple Tree shop in Hudson last week.

The shop at 516 Second St. specializes in fair trade products and ones made from recycled materials. The Purple Tree had just received the first shipment of jewelry designed by Lampman, and made by Ellen Eshun of the small community of Brenu in Ghana.

The income from the sale of the jewelry will help provide a living for Eshun and her two children.

Eshun cuts strips out of old plastic water bottles, paints them and then uses a heat gun to roll them into the shape of a bead. Eshun also assembles the jewelry. The Water Bead line designed by Lampman also incorporates recycled glass beads.

Global Mamas is the wholesaler for the line that will be sold in shops throughout the United States and abroad.

The Purple Tree has the necklaces that are priced at $20, the bracelets, at $14, and the earrings at $6 a pair.

“It’s really exciting,” Lampman said of seeing her jewelry on display at The Purple Tree. “What’s exciting abut it is knowing that Ellen went from not having this source of income to having it in a matter of weeks. That’s what’s so great about microfinance (loans) and fair trade. It really works on a grassroots level.”

Lampman also majored in sociology/anthropology at St. Olaf, with an emphasis in women’s studies. The daughter of Slater and Edith Lampman of Hudson, and a 2007 graduate of Hudson High School, she’s off to Portland, Ore., to look for a job in the fair trade sector. She would also like to do grant-writing and development work for a non-profit organization.

She reported greatly enjoying her internship in Ghana.

“Ghanaians are wonderful, open people,” she said. “It’s sort of like the opposite of the Midwest. Everything is loud and straightforward.”

And hot. The temperature during Ghana’s cooler season in January was in the 90s and 100s.

Tags: arts and entertainment, lifestyle, arts, travel