Goods from the Alpha Workshops

I really love the charitable concept of giving people the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills so they can be responsible for their own success and self-worth. As it's said, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." I also love a charitable cause that sells beautiful, handmade items created by artisans that will benefit from sales. With those two tenants in action, it's no surprise that I think the Alpha Workshops is a wonderful organization.

The Alpha Workshops is a New York-based non-profit organization that provides HIV-positive individuals with industry-specific training and employment in the decorative arts.  Its mission is “to provide a new model of economic development for people living with HIV/AIDS or other disabilities.”

The org is comprised of a vocational school, the Alpha Workshops Studio School (AWSS), and Alpha Workshops Studios, an AWSS-grad-staffed professional art and design atelier. Interior designers and architects can count the Alpha Workshops’ Studios as a resource for decorative arts services like gilding, special finishes and art installations in addition to design goods like hand-painted wallpapers, custom casegoods, lighting, and accessories. You can purchase items through a designer or at Alpha Workshops' Dering Hall storefront.

I'm especially excited by their wallpapers and the possibilities of creating custom designs! I just adore these two patterns, Caper and Oh So Faux...

These little stools are awesome...the finishes are the jam.

Faux Tortoise Side Table/Stool

Chairs in Faux Ivory Finish 

And last but not least, behold Alpha Workshops' gorgeous lamps!

The Surface Lamp in the faux Malachite finish is my favorite.

Almost as much as I love their creations, I love the Alpha Workshops ethos and how the org brings education, art, and business together. I haven't purchased anything from them yet, but I definitely plan to!