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Maya toys are made on both electric and hand lathes.

Fair Trade

Leela has been run by me, Ann Hargreaves, since 2006 after I returned from corporate life in Bangalore and knew that I'd be linked (probably forever!) in some way to India.

I was delighted when Maya Organic based in Bangalore, agreed to form a fair trading partnership with Leela. Maya is a truly great organisation who oversee various collectives in Karnataka, southern India. These collectives consist of skilled artisans who make toys, clothing, furniture and home accessories. Maya are members of IFAT and Leela are members of BAFTS.

Since then I have also been working with Wild Earth from Nepal and am hoping to form another Bangalore partnership very soon with collectives who make beautiful home accessories like table mats, boxes, laundry baskets etc. Like the Maya products, they are well designed and look good in any type of home.

See Meet the Producers for their inspiring stories. They can tell you better than I can what fair trade means to them.

I feel that my role for them is to build up a customer base in the UK, Ireland and Europe and open up those markets and within 18 months I am now selling to just under 200 outlets, increasing presently at the rate of one per day!

Through exclusive partnerships and open working relationships with our suppliers you can be assured that the artisans are paid well, on time and fairly - the women are paid equally; they have excellent working conditions ie clean environments and reasonable working hours (9.30 - 6pm with regular breaks); that they develop products with ourselves to meet global requirements whilst retaining their traditional artisan's skills. In turn Leela ensures that we pay our invoices on time and advance 50% of our order to Maya. I also visit Maya each year and an increasingly impressed by their drive and determination - they will be a globally recognised brand very soon!