A purchase from Thumbprint Gallery shows

Arts&Life shopping

Fair Trade Shop

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THUMBNAIL GALLERY

Hand-beaded African animals

LYNNE KONSTANTIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A purchase from Thumbprint Gallery shows that a successful business can put people fi rst.

In 2012, lifelong friends Becky Riess and Kris Engle had come to a crossroads in their careers. Each had worked hard for more than 20 years — Riess taking the corporate route and Engle becoming a South Africa-based entrepreneur and travelling around the world. They had learned a lot and earned enough, but both felt they needed something more. They wanted to put their individual expertise to work in a way that could help others in need.

Inspired by Engle’s adopted home of South Africa, the friends honed in on the idea of supporting fairly traded artisan companies in areas of the world greatly affected by unemployment, and to do so in a way that

A South African artisan at work recognizes the entrepreneurial spirit.

“Even though apartheid is over, the country was left badly scarred,” Riess said. The unemployment rate for South African women ages 18 to 35 is approximately 40 percent.

With Engle managing business in South Africa and Riess handling things in the U.S., the pair launched Thumbprint Artifacts as a wholesaler, offering unique home decor and gift items handcrafted by South African women and sold to the U.S. market. Hand-beaded jewelry, hand-roasted coffee by Himelhoch’s, ceramics, felt baby booties, body butter — and Judaica — are among the items offered.

Buoyed by interest from buyers at the semi-annual NY Now gift show — the largest in the country — the business in 2018 opened a small shop in Detroit’s Eastern Market called Thumbprint Gallery. Now, inspired by the COVID19 quarantine, the friends have launched a website, thumbprintdetroit.com. “Our goal here at the Thumbprint fulfillment and gallery is to hire women from Detroit who we can train and employ. Now we’re helping women on two continents,” Riess said.

Every year at the gift show, a group of women shopping for items for a North Carolina temple would stop by Riess’ booth and ask if she had any Judaica. “They loved what we offered, and they loved the idea of supporting fair trade, but there wasn’t anything for their specific needs,” Riess said.

So Riess got in touch with

Shabbat candlesticks

a design team to create a collection of Judaica items — Shabbat candles, tapers, pillars and votives, plus hamsas, all found in Thumbprint’s White on White and Hamsa collections. The pieces are assembled and hand-painted by artisans in South Africa and sold at museum and Judaica gift shops throughout the country, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Thumbprint Artifacts also has pieces in about 400 retail shops across the country, including the Smithsonian and Cleveland Museum gift shops.

“We are the only gift shop in Detroit that is a member of the Fair Trade Federation,” Riess said. The North American organization stands for the mark of trust bestowed upon businesses and business leaders who are dedicated to fair trade practices.

“The FTF does a great job of vetting out businesses,” Riess said. “It’s not just about making sure artisans are receiving a fair wage, which it does. But it’s also about the working conditions, respecting the culture the artisans live in, protecting children. Companies are protecting the environment and creating sustainable processes.”

The support that fair trade provides translates into empowerment and self-sufficiency that helps the artisans care for themselves, their families — and contribute to their communities.

“Being part of the Federation is pretty powerful,” Riess added. “It allows us to communicate with like-minded people. Many parts of the country are more attuned to fair trade. Detroit is very Detroit-centric, which is fabulous. But we are a small segment of the fair trade community.

“We hope people will come in and ask about our products, where they are made, and learn about the people who make them, their cultures, their conditions. Every object is not only beautiful, but meaningful. Every object has a story behind it.”

When Thumbprint Artifacts was launched, the entrepreneurs worked with about 60 artisans. Today, that number has increased to 500 — about 90 percent of whom are women, primarily single mothers who support an extended family.

“We purchase each piece outright, so we know everything is fair,” Riess said. “It can take up to 12 people to handpaint a single candle. So, for every candle we purchase for sale in the U.S. — we have no idea how many people we are helping. But it’s a lot. It makes it very easy for me to get up in the morning and sell some candles.”

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Arts&Life family fun

Canterbury Village

COURTESY OF JARC T ESY OF JAR C

Jewish Pop-Up Drive-Ins

With summer in full swing, Jewish pop up drive-in theaters are gaining traction.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

Folks got to take a trip back in time, June 28, as the Jewish Community Center’s parking lot transformed into The 15 Mile Drive-In Theater, airing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at 9:30 p.m.

The idea for The 15 Mile Drive-In Theater was created by Jackson Partrich, 19, and Daniel Sternberg, 19, who both reside in Bloomfield Hills and are rising juniors at the University of Michigan. Partrich and Sternberg both have an interest in entrepreneurship and thought a summer drive-in theater was a perfect way to bring the community together.

“I started thinking about what people are going to be able to do throughout the summer and I thought about how a lot of movie theaters might remain closed, and I just had the idea of bringing a drive-in theater to West Bloomfield,” Sternberg told the JN. “We wanted to bring the community together and have something to do as a family.” Partrich, who is an alumnus of Frankel Jewish Academy, is

Daniel Sternberg familiar with the JCC and thought their parking lot would be the perfect spot to host their drive-in theater. The guys reached out to Brian Siegel, CEO of the JCC, who loved the idea and thought it was a great opportunity to bring a drive-in to West Bloomfield.

Sternberg and Partrich have partnered with not only the JCC for the event, but also West Bloomfield School District and Fleece and Thank You, an organization that makes and provides fleece blankets to children battling life-threatening illnesses in hospitals.

Since there is a limit on how many people can gather due to the coronavirus pandemic, tickets are sold per person, instead of per car. The ticket price for two people is $30, three people is $40 and four or more is $50. You can purchase tickets by heading to their Facebook page or website.

The cars are parked with ample amount of space between each one to ensure that the theater is adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. Attendees were told what FM radio station to tune into to transform their vehicles into their own personal movie theater.

Proceeds from the drive-in theater benefit Fleece and Thank You and the JCC. Fleece and Thank You also sold warm blankets at the theater for those who forgot them. The movies are aired on a giant, inflatable 55-foot screen. The guys have purchased all the movies on DVD and are obtaining the Jackson Partrich movie licensing. All cars receive a free bag of popcorn from Detroit Popcorn with a choice of a water or pop. Other snacks and candy are available for purchase at the theater, including kosher pizza from Jerusalem Pizza and Domino’s Pizza. All snacks orders are placed by text and then delivered to the cars.

Partrich and Sternberg plan to continue to air movies throughout the summer on Thursday and Saturday nights. They hope to feature a mix of throwback movies, such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and animated movies, such as Frozen or The Incredibles, to bring families together throughout the community.

“I think it is very important for families to get out of the house, bring their kids out and just have a glimpse of normal life,” Sternberg said. “The drive-in provides a space to distract yourself and put a smile on your family’s faces.”

Carl Reiner at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, Calif., Aug. 3, 2017.

JOHN WOLFSOHN/GETTY IMAGES

Carl Reiner, Consummate Old Jew Telling Jokes, Dies At 98

(JTA) — Until the last day of his life, Carl Reiner was tweeting about some of his favorite topics: politics, comedy and the twists and turns he experienced over decades as one of the world’s greatest living funnymen. Reiner died Monday, June 29, at 98, hours after reiterating his dismay that Donald Trump had become president, days after posing with his daughter Annie and longtime friend Mel Brooks in Black Lives Matter shirts and 70 years after his first television appearance.

The Bronx native, the son of Jewish immigrant parents, called himself a “Jewish atheist” and said his faith in God had ended with the Holocaust. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he began a long and varied show business career. He created The Dick Van Dyke Show, formed a comedy duo with Brooks that was highlighted in their album the “2000 Year Old Man,” wrote screenplays for Steve Martin films including The Jerk and, in his later years, voiced characters in animated films.

DETROIT MEMORIES

In 1999, Jewish News Contributing Writer Suzanne Chessler interviewed Reiner, in which he shared some memories of Detroit. He told her about the time when he was in a Broadway road company of Call Me Mister in 1947, and Detroit was the last stop before Chicago. “My son Robbie (producer-director-actor Rob Reiner) was 5 weeks old. There were two weeks in Detroit and Cleveland when I did not see my little son, but my wife brought him out to Chicago because that was a six-month run. We stayed at a hotel, and that’s where he started to grow.”

An avid baseball fan, Reiner told Chessler about one of his all-time favorite players.

“When I was a kid, I knew every Detroit ballplayer because I followed every team in the league,” he said. “When Hank Greenberg, a Jewish kid from the Bronx, became an idol not only in Detroit but in the whole baseball community, I followed his career.”

HIS ‘KEY TO LONGEVITY’

In a 2015 documentary about longevity that Reiner hosted, he offered his own secrets for long life. “The key to longevity,” he said, “is to interact with other people.”

In the documentary, Reiner also offered insight into what made him funny.

“I think it’s partly your genes,” he said. “Also, it’s your environment. Also, if you have a funny bone; if you grew up in a family with a sense of humor.”

Reiner’s wife of 64 years, Estelle, died in 2008. Along with Rob and Annie, he is survived by a son Lucas, their children and their children’s children.

The Probate Law Firm of

Jaden,

your mom and I are so proud of you. The way you handled waiting for your Bar Mitzvah taught us all a lesson on patience. Now the time is here and you will be called to read out of the Torah this weekend! We know you will be amazing! We included this photo of you with your siblings because you really are the best big brother and we all love you. Love Mom, Dad, Noah, Stevie and Eddie