New Arrival

Coming Soon!

Look out for our new range of jewellery incorporating the simply beautiful Jarina, which is known as Tagua in Spanish. Jarina comes from a large husky nut which grows on a palm tree in the Western Amazon near the Colombian border. It is known in English as Vegetable Ivory because of its remarkable similarity to ivory.

Up until recently it was predominately carved into all manner of shapes and pieces that originally could only be produced with elephant ivory, but now more and more it's being sliced, dyed and polished for use in eco-jewellery.

Not only is it extremely hard-wearing and gorgeous to look at, but it also accepts different coloured natural dyes, and its cultivation and harvesting within the greater Amazonian area is reckoned to keep some 35,000 people gainfully employed, as well as avoiding loggers chopping down trees to plant soya for biofuels. It not only saves the trees - but also the elephants!

Focus Brazil

Brazil Creates New Indian Reservation

Kudos to Brazil’s President Lula who on Friday decreed a new 3.8 million acre Indian reservation in the heart of the Amazon rain forest's logging frontier. The Bau Reservation in Para had been sought by the Kayapo Indians in their ancestral territory since 1994 but resistance from settlers and loggers slowed its official creation.

Brazil's 1988 constitution declared that all Indian ancestral lands be demarcated and turned over to Indian tribes within five years. While that process has not yet been completed, today about 11% of Brazilian territory and nearly 22 % of the Amazon is in Indian hands. It is reckoned that there are about 1 million Indians in Brazil - about half of them on reservations.

However there has been increasing pressure on the government to limit the size of reservations as logging, ranching and farming expand into the Amazon and some settlers have violently resisted efforts to relocate them.

Studies show that Indian reservations tend to be the best preserved areas of the rain forest because the tribes protect the borders. National parks and ecological reserves rarely have enough staff to police their territory.

Source: The Associated Press

Friday's Featured Item

Friday's Featured Item is this delicious Pink Bombon Leather Handbag.

This sweet litle handbag is hand-woven by the ladies at Alzira's in Fortaleza, Brazil, from specially cured coloured leather strands, and is finished with sturdy pink carrying handles. The bag also features a zipper and is internally lined.

The bag is comfortable to carry and small enough to be feminine and dainty, yet also large enough to fit all your essentials and will be the perfect addition to your wardrobe this summer.


*If you are interested in this beautiful Pink Bombon Leather Handbag

Focus Brazil

The BBC World Service is dedicating Thursday 15th of May to the Amazon and The Amazon Paradox is a series of articles which will be focusing on the economic and environmental state of the region.

As part of this special day, The Beat is joined by 'Forro in the Dark', a Brazilian band who incorporate Amazonian instruments in to their sound. The distinct sound of the flute that they play - the pifano, is from the region of Cariri, in Ceara (my state!) in the north-east of Brazil. The pifano is a wooden flute made of bamboo, it resembles a bansuri - an Indian flute and is played sideways.

The pifano descends from the Cariri Indians, who believe that they originated from an enchanted Amazonian lake. They were driven out of the Amazon by another tribe, the Tupy as well as by the Europeans. They came to inhabit the Crato Region, one of the main Forro Regions of Brazil - this is where Forro music takes it Amazonian roots.

Forro music can best be described as Brazilian country music. It uses simple melodies and interesting lyrics - driven rhythm that makes you want to dance.

'Forro in the Dark' are not a traditional forro band, they bring an updated style of the music to the club-goers of New York City.

It’s well worth a listen as the group play a live session and talk about the roots of their music on The Beat – just click the links to go to the BBC’s sites, visit http://forrointhedark.com/, or go to their excellent Myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/forrointhedark), where you can listen to a selection of their catchy and upbeat songs.

Wednesday's Featured Item

Wednesday's Featured Item is the Chocole Meia Lua hobo handbag, which is the partner to the Bronze Meia Lua hobo handbag. Chocole Meia Lua literally means 'chocolate half moon' in Portuguese and this gorgeous and practical hobo style handbag is good enough to eat and made with the softest Brazilian leather and big enough to fit all your essentials and wear all day long.

Monday's Featured Item

Monday's Featured Item is this Bronze Meia Lua hobo handbag. Bronze Meia Lua literally means bronzed half moon in Portuguese and this gorgeous and practical hobo style handbag is made with the softest Brazilian leather and is big enough to fit all your essentials and wear all day long. This bag is also available in sumptuous chocolate brown.

*If you are interested in this beautiful Bronze Meia Luahandbag

Wednesday's Featured Item

Wednesday's Featured Item is this beautiful Yellow Weave handbag made from hand-woven leather by our Brazilian supplier Alzira's. Alzira's is a small family-run handbag factory in Fortaleza, and specialises in small (but beautifully handmade) product runs.

Pretty and fun, this bag will add a touch of delicate colour to your wardrobe.

If you are interested in this beautiful Yellow Weave handbag

Focus Brazil

Buzios


Buzios, which means shells in Portuguese, located 170 Km from Rio, is a beautiful fishing village on a peninsula composed of some 25 beautiful beaches, and found fame in the summer of 1964 with the first of several visits by French actress Brigitte Bardot.

Bardot spent a few days there trying to relax and escape the attentions of the intrusive Brazilian press, and from then on the location became a prime attraction for both international jet-setters and local tourists, drawn by warm temperatures and amazing beaches.

In recognition of her input in putting the area on the map, Buzios erected a statute in Bardot's honour, which looks out across one of the most beautiful bays.

Historically, Buzios was inhabited by Tamoios Indians when Brazil was discovered by Portugal, and in the 16th century become the supply point of French pirate ships and slave traders because of its numerous small bays and abundant sweet waters.

Buzios has a good infrastructure with hotels and fancy restaurants, and has about three hundred small lodgings, including those with famous frequent visitors like Bill Gates, Naomi Campbell and Michael Johnson.

Yet despite the sophistication you will not find a single three storey building on the peninsula, and no major holiday resorts.

This is because construction isn’t allowed on most of the beaches, and consequently Buzios has managed to keep some of its original rustic fishing village charm.

Wednesday's Featured Item

Wednesday's Featured Item is this Multi-Stone Green and Brown Necklace which can be yours for £33.00.

The necklace has a double twisted layer of assorted multi-stones with a beautiful and highly-polished dark brown coconut pendant attached, and the varying shades of greens, browns and whites will compliment many outfits.

Multi-Stone Green and Brown Necklace

*If you are interested in this beautiful Multi-Stone Green and Brown Necklace

Focus Brazil

Foz do Iguaçu

Foz do Iguaçu or the Iguaçu Falls (at the junction between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay at a bend in the Rio Iguaçu), are waterfalls that are sometimes described as being one of the seven natural Wonders of the World.

Yet these waterfalls are neither the widest waterfalls nor the tallest waterfalls in the world. In fact they are an extensive combination of over 270 separate falls and act as a natural border to the countries of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

The falls have a flow capacity equal to three Niagara Falls – having a peak flow of about 400,000 square metres, cover 1.67 miles, are 318 feet at their highest and include the infamous Garganta do Diabo (Devil’s Throat) – which afford the viewer a 260 degrees view of waterfall, as water thunders in on three sides.

The name of the falls comes from the Guarani or Tupi words and means big water. Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful aborigine named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In a rage, the god sliced the river - creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall.

The best time of year to see the falls is between October and December and for intrepid adventurers the thundering of millions of gallons of water falling 250 feet can be experienced up close on the strategically placed walkways and footbridges.

The Paseo Garganta del Diablo, for example, is a one kilometer long walkway directly over the falls of the Garganta del Diablo – and not for the faint of heart!

Monday's Featured Item

Monday's Featured Item is this beautiful Rubino Luxe handbag which oozes style and character. It is a must have item for your wardrobe and we are certain it will become a firm favourite.

It is made of butter soft red leather and has fantastic leopard print lining and an internal pocket and cell phone holder as well as two large side pockets with magnetic fasteners. This red bag with black boots, skirt and a black coat would look great, but it could be used as a powerful focal point for almost any outfit you choose to wear. It would look fantastic with a white maxi dress, for example, or even with a pair of jeans and a floaty top.

*If you are interested in this beautiful Rubino Luxe handbag

Focus Brazil

The Quetzal

Brazil consists of cloud forests, marshes, swamplands, arid plateaus and immense rainforests, and within this varied terrain live some 1,600 recorded bird species.

The Amazon Basin contains one-third of the planet's living species, and it is here that you can find Short-billed Leaftossers, Rufus-Necked Puffbirds, Hardy's Pygmy-Owl, the Black-Girdled Barbet, as well as the Quetzal.

The name comes from the Nahuatl word QUETZALLI and means large brilliant tail feather.

One variety, the Resplendent Quetzal, is often held to be the most beautiful bird in the Western Hemisphere as the male’s tail feathers can reach feet 60cm in length.

The Quetzal features heavily in Central and South American mythology, and Aztec royalty wore headdresses including plumes removed from the males and Guatemalans chose it as their national bird, and even named their monetary unit the quetzal.

Quetzals rely on wild avocados (which grow widely throughout tropical regions), and it is thought that the wild avocados are quite reliant on the Quetzal to disperse their seeds as they are the only bird large enough to and swallow the avocado fruits whole (including the seeds!)

WE HAVE A WINNER

CONGRATULATIONS to Ginette in London who was the winner of our Valentine's Day Prize Draw and wins the beautiful red leather handbag shown below.

Many thanks to the rest of you who participated in the prize draw. You didn't win this time but maybe next time you'll get lucky, so look out for our next prize draw in early spring.

REMINDER: Mother's Day

Just a little reminder that Sunday 2nd March is Mother's Day, and whilst youth may indeed fade, love might droop and your friends may fall away like leaves in Autumn, your Mother's secret hopes (perhaps for one of our handbags or for some of our jewellery) - shines eternal.

It doesn't necessarily need to be your own mother. It could be your sister, your aunt, your female friends or your mother-in-law! Anyone in your life who is a woman and has children is a mother, a deserves to be treated especially well this coming Sunday.

But what to get her? Flowers are good (but they die!), chocolates are good (for you...but not for her!), lingerie... (don't go there!), something for doing the housework perhaps? (only if you want to die!)

No. The thing to do is to let us do all the work and make some helpful suggestions for you - suggestions which we know any mother would love. So here goes: