About Pilgrim Imports

We're thrilled to be carrying Pilgrim Imports ornaments on sticks.com! We know you Sticks fans are conscious about what you buy and where you purchase your treasures from, so we're here to share a little bit more about their history and process with all of you. Enjoy reading on and learning more!

 

  

Fair Wage and Fair Trade are about caring who makes the goods you purchase and standing apart from the big box stores. A purchase of Pilgrim Imports means you're looking for something beautiful with value and meaning behind it! We value handmade goods that support the craftspeople making them and we're sure you do as well.

 

Pilgrim Imports originated in 1992 (just like Sticks!) in a village outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand. There, craftspeople and their families gather for an annual celebration that has become known as Pilgrim Family Day. The day features food, friends, and fun. Spirits are high as sports jerseys and t-shirts for the Pilgrim-sponsored teams are distributed along with special gifts and announcements.

 

You would never know that three decades ago this was a chronically poor area; families accustomed to closeness were commonly forced to separate for survival as children went to work in Bangkok’s factories and tourist trades. Traditional village life deteriorated in the face of poverty. No longer do the villagers consider sending their kids away to the big city. Now, over 400 neighbors in this rural land work together to produce the art pieces Pilgrim Imports' buyers and customers love. They are able to remain in their homeland and utilize traditional metalworking skills.

 

Besides generally improving quality of life for hundreds, the work Pilgrim offers set other improvements in motion. For instance, the village’s local grade school received a paved road, computers, and clean drinking water. The Thai Department of Education has now cited this once destitute place of learning as a model for rural schooling.

 

 

 

There are many tasks that need to be completed on the Thai end to create Pilgrim Imports' beautiful ornaments, pins, and jewelry. Fortunately, all of these jobs are honest, clean, and economical. No one thinks of dumping trash in rivers or landfills because the villagers work right where they live. No lead or dangerous chemicals are used in the products nor in the process creating them.

 

More importantly, these Thai people are proud to preserve their village traditions and happy to be close to each other. They appreciate the work which sustains their way of life, and they are pleased to learn that others enjoy the projects they create. Look for the light of admirable people inside of every Pilgrim Imports product, and we will keep “working together for good” to bring it to you.

 

 

 

We hope you love browsing through their collection of intricately crafted metal ornaments on our website! They look stunning next to our Sticks Handmade wood ornaments - the delicate metalwork is a great compliment for a mix of colors and textures. Shop the ornaments online here!