Floortje Dessing
Travel
Floortje Dessing (1970) was only eight years old when she took her first trip abroad: a two week vacation to the Swiss Alps with her family. Now, thirty years and more than 120 countries later, Floortje can’t imagine a life without travel anymore.
Pay a fair price
Her job as anchor for the travel show ‘3 op reis’ has led her to the most impressive locations in the world. During her travels she is regularly confronted with poverty and injustice. This made Floortje wonder about the change she could bring about in the world to better it. “I’m a practical idealist. Sending an endless amount of money and aid, that’s not what I believe in. Just pay a fair price for coffee, making sure that people can provide for themselves. This is a system that actually works, I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Floortje and fair-trade
In 2002 Floortje became an ambassador for the Max Havelaar Foundation. For over twenty years, this foundation heightens the consumer awareness regarding fair-trade and the improvement of trading terms in favor of farmers in development countries. The Max Havelaar stamp of approval can be found on products such as chocolate, fruit, wine, thee, ice cream peanut butter. In Ecuador, Floortje visited the farmers’ cooperation ‘El Guabo’ where she spoke to the local farmers about their experiences with fair-trade. For more information you can visit the Blog/fair-trade.
From book to shop
In 2006 the first Nukuhiva shop opened, right after Floortje published her book ‘100 places in the world you must have seen’ Arrangements were made for a part of the proceedings to go to a school in Uganda. The book sold more copies than expected, so there was money left for another project. It was then that the idea was formed to start a fair-trade clothing shop in Amsterdam. In 2008, another Nukuhiva shop opened up in Utrecht. With these two shops Floortje hopes to reach out to consumers and introduce them to ‘honest clothes’.
