Bangles, Not Bombs!

What does garbage from Hayward, CA have to do with a subsistence farming village in Laos? It's amazing the things we learn and re-learn doing community building work here at 'Festa. One such lesson of which we have recently been reminded, is that so frequently in life, despite outward appearances, two things that seem to be so separate have real connections. The story starts with metal and ends with community.


There it was, leaning against a dumpster on the side of the road in Hayward. Filthy, rusted, discarded, and through his eyes, the perfect piece of mesh metal to complete a shelving unit Billy Lutes was custom building for Manifesta Salon. He pulled his pickup truck over, donned his heavy duty gloves, and tossed the heap of junk in the back. One week later, after deep cleaning, painting, sanding and a dash of wizardry, a completely transformed piece of someone's garbage became the backing on a crafty retail unit for our stunning front desk, also hand-made with love by Billy. Little did he know that his upcycled creation would soon be home to a set of bracelets, sold by our 'Festa partner business Half Hitch Goods, that tell their own amazing story!


As the Half Hitch Goods website (www.halfhitchgoods.com) explains, "250 million bombs... were dropped on Laos by the U.S. during the Vietnam War.  It is a dangerous land because 1 in 3 bombs that were dropped did not detonate and are still land mines today.  Since 80% of Laotians are subsistence farmers... the danger of the undetonated bomb litter presents a food security issue and a barrier to economic development." The story continues that folks from Naphia Village in Laos devised a way to repurpose the metal collected from the bombs, and in collaboration with nonprofit Mine Advisory Group (www.maginternational.org) and design company Article 22, began making the "peace bomb" bracelets to sell internationally, raising awareness and funding that sustains the bomb dismantling effort.

The reason for sharing these stories is manifold. We want you to know that when you walk in our door, you are supporting 2 small local businesses, Half Hitch Goods and Manifesta. When you browse the products housed on our shelves, you are seeing the love that went into the making of our set of practical yet elegant furniture, created by hand from found and repurposed materials by Billy Lutes, life partner to Manifesta Co-Owner KC Lutes. And when you purchase a Peace Bomb Bangle from the Half Hitch Goods collection, not only are you helping to remove land mines from 3 square meters of land in Laos, but you are helping us draw our family circle wider than Oakland. In short, when you pay us a visit, you become an integral part of building our unique community. The door is always open!