girl gifts

By the Jalapa Girl Jewelsmiths of Guatemala, this pendant necklace makes the perfect gift for the loved ones in your life. A stone of natural rose quartz combines with a fine silver pendant that reads "Loved" on one one side and "Amado" on the other. The pendant centers a length of brown leather cord, which closes with a silver clasp accented with a charm. The artisan stamps her finger print on the charm.

Jalapa Girl Jewelsmiths is an organization dedicated to providing local girls with mentorship and artisanal skills during their formative years.

Ornate repoussé covers the forehead and smooth cheeks of an adolescent girl, beautifully depicted in a sese wood mask. Perched on the head, a bird reaches a slender beak to caress the girl's nose. Designed by Evelyn Kafui Ahianyo, it is named Onuma, Akan for "Bird." A gift presented to Akan women in eastern Ghana during a girl's puberty rites, it affirms the suitor's commitment during courtship. "Apart from its decorative purposes, this piece gives the possessor an assurance of a blissful courtship leading to marriage," the artisan affirms.

Peruvian artisan Maritza Pacori invites you to add this elegant shawl to your wardrobe. Woven from sumptuously soft 100% alpaca wool, this shawl features geometric diamond patterns in hues of azure and smoke. Long, elegant fringes, complete this cold weather shawl at each end.

This splendid jewelry box recognizes the omnipresence of god through gye nyame, the Adinkra symbol on the lid that means, "I am afraid of none except God." Deeply symbolic, Madam Adwoa has calls the box Effia, the name given to a baby girl born on a Friday. Madam Adwoa and the artisans at her workshop, Onyame Akwan Dooso, carve the sika adaka (jewelry box) from sese wood with hand-made tools. Once the desired shape has been achieved, it is delicately carved with traditional patterns and protected with mansion polish.

This necklace is designed by Adriana de Gadea for the proud parents of two daughters. The little girl pendants are crafted of gleaming sterling silver with contrasting a brushed satin finish for their dresses. The endearing pendants are worn on a sterling silver chain.

A colorful diamond motif adorns her forehead and embossed aluminum appears on her skirt. By Rita Addo Zakour, this sculpture depicts an Ashanti fertility doll. In West African society women place great importance on childbearing, and a married woman without children is sometimes shunned. Parents give such a doll to the newly married daughter, as its presence in the house is believed to have special powers. When worn by young married girls in a carrying cloth on the back, these dolls are reputed to ensure they will have children. The artisan names this doll Dzigbordi, which means "patience" in the Ewe language.