Papillon Marketplace
“Beauty Changing Lives”

Papillon means "Butterfly" in French. Around the world, people view the butterfly as representing endurance, change, hope, and life. Papillon Marketplace is a fair-trade certified, socially conscious lifestyle brand dedicated to supporting at-risk mothers and fathers with full-time artisan jobs in Haiti.

Papillon provides hope and dignity with employment rather than a hand out. The skills and training that each staff member receives, provides the foundation for a sustainable future. A future that includes taking care of their children and providing for their families. 

These jobs present an unprecedented opportunity for many men women who have never had an education and cannot read or write their names. Papillon also works with deportees struggling to create new lives for themselves. This chance to "start over" is a rarity and exhibits that a little help goes a long way.

Papillon’s mission of orphan prevention through job creation has proven itself to be a viable solution for the current poverty orphan crisis affecting many developing nations. Papillon founder, Shelley Jean was featured in the Netflix documentary, Poverty Inc which showcased the positive impact of Papillon's methodology and approach to economic and social reform in Haiti. 

 

PAPILLON'S HOLISTIC APPROACH

TRAINING

We develop new skills in our artisans to help them create products that are relevant for North American and European markets. Most artisans have little to no experience in the creative field before working for Papillon Enterprises. Job skills training will give Haitian artisans a lifelong advantage no matter where they are.

DESIGN

Haitian culture is blessed with an unsurpassed creativity. Through our company, we encourage and promote artisans to be experimental, exploratory, and expressive in their work. This gives greater satisfaction for our employees and allows us to have the most unique and cutting edge artisan goods in Port au Prince.

VARIETY

Our artisans work with recycled paper to make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, Christmas ornaments and more. We use indigenous clay to make ceramic beads and crafts that are unique to our artisan guild. We are eco-friendly and use primarily recycled goods in most of our craft. Our ever-expanding product lines include recycled paper journals, bags, purses, home decor, children’s clothing and many other small artisan goods. We are constantly pushing back the horizons of our skills to continue blazing trails on the frontier of the emerging Haitian market.

AWARENESS

Papillon’s artisan goods are being sought after worldwide. Our products have been purchased and celebrated by prestigious clientele such as Donna Karan, Kim Kardashian, Maria Bello, Patricia Arquette, Olivia Wilde, Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton. These connections and a blossoming social media network have done much to promote and sell Haitian goods. We are currently developing new markets in Europe and Asia.

LOCAL

As much as is possible, we source all of our supplies locally. Varnish, glue, paper, unprocessed clay, and raw metals are all purchased locally in order to stimulate the Haitian economy further and create more jobs. What we cannot buy locally, we import solely for the sake of exporting