Ethical Policy
Living and working in South East Asia we often come across situations where the ethical and moral behaviour of governments, businesses and individuals does not conform to recognized international conventions and standards. The world of Asian arts and crafts, and cultural artifacts is rife with examples of exploitation, the use of materials prohibited by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), the destruction of cultural heritage and looting of antiquities.
Customers of ‘Orientations’ can rest assured that we make every effort to safeguard against any such abuses and take great care to minimize the risk. Wherever possible we buy directly from craftsmen and ethnic minorities in the villages where we can experience working conditions firsthand and interview individual artisans. In other situations we make careful enquiries into the history and background of items and materials before adding to the ‘Orientations’ inventory.