Juliette Kalifa

I became involved in the Co-op in its very early days, initially to be part of a collaborative community joining forces to bring healthy foods to town. However, at the time, we were stocking whatever members needed and for years, this included tobacco and chicken feed! I became one of its early members.

Later on, as my children were growing up and I pursued further studies, I took a part time position which I kept for a number of years. The Co-op was only small and couldn’t afford to pay for all of our time so every staff agreed to volunteer some hours. There were very few jobs in town and we felt privileged to work there.

After I graduated, I left to teach art therapy and establish my private counselling and art therapy practice. Of course, I remained a member and continued to shop there; I shared- and continue to share-the Co-op's values, its vision and mission. What I still love most today, is that I can trust products are researched before they reach the shelves!

I have always loved images and collected them as a very young child. In later years, I took drawing and painting as a hobby; I was never inclined to exhibit or sell my artwork but keen to share it; that’s how I started making cards to sell at the Co-op.

My studies brought together my two passions, loves of people and art. In art therapy we use art to express ourselves; it is said an image is worth a thousand words. Practising as a creative arts counsellor meant I heard many stories. My cards shifted from representative art (landscapes and flowers) to stories of the heart- as I refer to them. Most of my cards speak of my responses to life and the stories I hear; I give many of them a title to reflect that. I think people buy my cards when they resonate with an image or its title.

We all have stories of the heart, don’t we?