Primary Contact: Amanada Bosca

Contact Telephone:(212) 517-9438

Contact Email: info@accentsfortoday.com

Company Website: www.accentsfortoday.com

Address: 
311 E 71 St.
New York, New York 10021

Company Description:
Accents for Today, Inc., in business for over fifteen years, offers a comprehensive selection of high quality African crafts, mostly from Zimbabwe.  Numerous museums, botanical gardens and zoos are customers.  The owner, Amanda Bosca, travels almost every summer to Zimbabwe when it is hot and humid in New York but a comfortable 80 degrees winter there!

Together with Maggie, a young local woman, married with four kids, she travels throughout the country meeting with craftspeople with whom there are established relationships and is always on the lookout for new talent.  "We make a good team. Maggie knows where to find artisans who are often hidden in offbeat places and don't speak English.

Although buying according to the best fair trade practices is very important to us, it sometimes takes some tough mediation on Maggie's part to explain that we need wholesale prices.  I didn't expect women living far into the bush to be such formidable negotiators when selling their baskets. While I understand the type of product and quality expected in the U.S. market, Maggie has the task of seeing that the artisans live up to this.

In January 2014 she accompanied me for the first time to NYNow to learn more about what was needed to be successful here".  Amanda has lived in Italy and has a background in Italian graphic and product design.  She has developed an eye for excellence, discovering African crafts which stand out, often working with artisans to fine tune them; i.e. using food safe finishes, etc.. She has a passion for research and offers buyers abundant cultural and educational information, photos of the artisans, p.o.s. material, handout fliers for customers, etc.

Hoping you will make Accents for Today a regular resource for your store and enjoy the results!