GlobeIn Fair Trade Artisan Subscription Box - The Memory Box Review

The GlobeIn box in March was themed Memory and features a lovely selection of items suitable for this theme. Like the February Rise & Shine box, this was a very practical box which I always appreciate.

Another box, another basket! This time around I become the lucky owner of a box with a lovely, pink zig-zag pattern. It seems pink has been my most frequent color so far, but I can't complain because it's been some great shades of pink.

Nothing says "memory" quite like photographs. This lovely wooden frame, sized for a standard photo format, comes from a family business in Celebi, Turkey. I really like how simple this frame is, with the natural wood grain still visible on the polished surface. I also like the color tone and size of it, it fits my personal preference very well. I'm really excited to have this piece displaying a memory in my home.

Another high-quality wooden product from Turkey. This pencil cup is very well made, but I'll admit I find it a bit plain. I might give it a coat of paint or stain it to spruce it up a bit. Either way, I'm sure it'll be very useful. I didn't take a photo of this one, but you can see it in the first picture above.

I know not everyone is fond of the idea of "poo paper", paper made from fibers found in elephant excrement, but ever since I heard about it the first time years ago I've been a fan. After all, it's literaly a waste product being put to good use. What's not to like about that?! I love the combination of the deep purple color and the gold tassle on this, and the little embossed elephants are a great touch too. This might make a great stocking stuffer once the season hits!

This product is a little different from most GlobeIn products, in that the company manufacturing it is run out of the US. Marie Mae is a stationary company which uses part of its profits to run a business school in Rwanda for aspiring entrepreneurs, and also outsources their design-work to African artisans. This planner features 70 undated weekly pages and accompanying note pages, and the quality appears to be very good. The planner features graphic designs by one of their artisans from Ghana. I'm a little torn about this product. On the one hand, the quality is great and the company appears to have some great projects going. On the other hand, it's not strictly speaking a fair trade product and as such I don't think it's optimal for a GlobeIn box. I won't mind getting this sort of product occasionally, but I hope it won't become too frequent. After all, I subscribe to get fair trade products straight from manufacturers in developing countries.

In spite of my ambivalence about the planner, I was quite happy about the quality and contents of this box. A lot of the items were also eminently giftable. The picture frame was a particular favorite of mine! I look forward to many equally practical boxes in the future.