Kind People doing Good Work in Our World. Check out Kanti!

While there is terrible ugly news, slander and hatred all around us, I thought I’d blog today about something beautiful and spotlight a company doing beautiful work in the world!

Here’s My story about this wonderful Austin-based, globally beneficial company, Kanti Goods – www.kantigoods.com.

While gathering ideas from fans about items they might enjoy purchasing as a part of the new album’s crowdfunding campaign, my dear friend Nicole Zinn (owner of Rocket Electric Bikes here in Austin) suggested I design bracelets with my album names on them as mantras. She suggested I contact a company that she adored called “Kanti Goods.”

After visiting their website and then meeting with founder, Ernestine Lammers, I fell in love with Kanti. First of all, “Kanti” means “beautiful” in sanskrit.  Secondly, Ernestine just happened to be be from the town in Holland where I went to college 2o years ago.  However, what I loved most about them is that this mother/daughter run business not only employs artisans (that they have connected with personally) from around the world, generating dignified income for families and villages in underprivileged parts of the world, but they also gift back to the nonprofit world.  They will charge reasonable prices for elegant, beautiful pieces and then invite nonprofits and other organizations doing fundraisers to purchase them at an almost wholesale cost so they can afford to use these gorgeous items as fundraising pieces! Kanti has found a way to gift in both directions. If you know me at all, you know that my favorite way of gifting is to purchase gifts from artists I believe in to gift to people I love and Kanti is doing this on a HUGE scale for so many people around the world!

While I met with Ernestine to talk about the crowdfunding campaign and the bracelets I wanted to design to help fund my new album and adorn the arms of fans with mantras like “Right Where I Belong,” “We Are One,” and “There is No Moment But Now;” I also learned the story of the silversmith, Dambar that she works with in Nepal.

“Years ago Dambar started as an independent silversmith. He was helped by a Dutchman who had encountered him by chance. This man, decided to give Dambar a helping hand because Dambar suffered from the disease TB. In the Netherlands this would not be a life threatening disease, but in a country like Nepal it is not easy to get medication for this. The doctors said that there was no hope if Dambar could not buy this medicine…

The Dutchman raised the money and helped Dambar to get well. But according to the beautiful proverb “Give a man a fish, he can eat. Give someone a fishing rod, he can learn to fish. “They decided that Dambar had to learn to support himself. He learned the trade of silversmith and started a small workshop.” (from the Kanti Goods website)

So, I asked Ernestine if Dambar had ever made wedding rings. Ryan and I had decided that we wanted to design custom wedding rings in silver with one another’s ring-fingerprint on the ring. I wanted to have small blue topaz stones in my ring to reflect the color of Ryan’s eyes.  I shared this with her and she was excited! They had never made wedding rings and ours would be the first!  She spoke with Dambar and he agreed to make them, also very excited. We sent a design along and received these beautiful custom-wedding rings a few months later.  They were so affordable that I cried  when Ernestine told me the cost. We are not wealthy and this meant the world to us. The fact that we could afford it during some skinny months meant so much to us.

We designed the bracelets a few weeks later and received them recently! They are so gorgeous! They will be for sale when we launch the “No Moment But Now” Crowdfunding campaign later this month!

If you are an individual or organization who is looking to gift friends and family and artisans in other countries; or showcase a company doing amazing work in the world or help raise funds for a cause you believe in, please consider Kanti. If you are looking to have a custom designed item, consider Kanti. If you wish to gift in both directions, consider Kanti.