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Global Market Collection Takes You on a Journey Around the World |
Global Market Story
Not far from the local shopping mall sits a quiet market with thousands of stories to tell. Carefully decorated artifacts line its shelves and hand-woven textiles hang gracefully from its walls. The shop's deceptively plain exterior masks its rich artistic interior, which features a vast collection of folk-art from almost 30 different countries.
The shop, which is called the Global Market, is in a fitting location in the bookstore on the campus of Thunderbird School of Global Management. The cultural diversity of the Thunderbird global community, which is home to students and faculty from all over the world and is represented by alumni working and living in more than 140 countries, is certainly reflected in the Global Market.
Dean Warner '57 founded the Global Market in 1997. He planned to stay for two or three years, but his appreciation for foreign cultures and the folk-art they produce have kept him here much longer than he expected.
"I'm not creative myself," said Warner, who started in the business collecting pre-Columbian artwork from Peru and selling to department stores in the U.S. "I can't paint or sculpt or anything like that. I'm just amazed how people can start with nothing but an idea, and take what little they have around them and produce something that can be so sensitive and so beautiful."
Browsing the Global Market's shelves can take you on a journey to every continent on Earth. There are clay teapots from the Yixing region of China, an area known for its natural minerals in the clay that produce a unique variety of colors when fired. The minerals also enhance the taste, color and aromas of fine teas brewed within the pots, and allow the pots to season more with each use.
In addition to the Yixing teapots, there are also Iranian rugs, metal designs carved from oil drums in Haiti, ceramic masks from the Ivory Coast, Egyptian paintings on natural papyrus, and toy trucks from Guatemala. These are just a few examples of the several hundred pieces of art in the Global Market, which are actually quite affordable considering the distances they have traveled and the stories they tell. The items range from $1.50 to $400, although most range from $10 to $50.
One of Warner's favorite countries to collect from is Mexico, where he recently returned with a collection of brightly colored masks made from coconut shells. He said they decorate the coconuts with natural items like leaves, pinecones and parts of the cocklebur plant. This is a perfect example of the definition of folk art, which Warner said is when an item starts off being utilitarian, then is decorated for pleasure and eventually becomes purely a piece of art.
All proceeds from the Global Market go toward Thunderbird for Good, an organization that takes advantage of the School's international business expertise to help students learn the necessary management skills to help combat poverty, secure peace, and improve living conditions in communities throughout the world. Thunderbird for Good supports initiatives like Project Artemis, a program that brings Afghan women to the school for two weeks to teach them entrepreneurship, communication, networking and presentation skills. Warner is proud of the shop he created and said that he will never stop looking for art.
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