Our Roots

Nazareth Fair Trade was founded in 2003.

But the roots of this work reach much further back.

Sometimes people ask us how this work began. The truth is that it did not begin as a business. It began with a place, a people, and a way of life.

Our family comes from the villages nestled among the hills of Galilee. The Galilee we knew was more than the places written about in Scripture. It was also the small villages, the stone churches, the olive groves, the dusty roads, the farmers in the fields, the shepherds on the hillsides, the baker preparing bread before sunrise, and the craftsmen working quietly in their workshops.

These were the people around us. The woodcarvers were our neighbors. The icon makers were our friends. The families making crosses and rosaries were people we prayed beside in church. We grew up among them. It was simply life.

Only later did we begin to understand something. Many Christians around the world knew the Holy Land through the Bible, yet knew very little about the Christian families who still live there today. Pilgrims would come to Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Galilee. They would visit the holy places and return home carrying a cross, an icon, or a piece of olive wood. But often they never met the families who made these things. They never heard their stories. They never saw the ordinary lives that continued quietly among the churches, villages, and hills of the Holy Land. They never knew that Christians were still living, working, praying, and raising their children in the land of Christ.

When our founder, Azar, left his home in Galilee and came to Sweden, he carried a piece of that world with him. The artisans were not suppliers. They were neighbors. Friends. People he had known throughout his life. He knew the workshops, the villages, and the families behind the work. And he saw that many Christians around the world loved the Holy Land, yet knew very little about the people who still called it home. So he began sharing their work.

There was never a grand plan. The work simply continued, year after year. More than twenty years later, we are still doing this work, much as we did in the beginning. Yet somewhere along the way, what began as ordinary work became something deeper.

When you spend your days surrounded by crosses, Scripture, icons, prayer, and the story of Christ, it becomes difficult to separate the work from the faith behind it. Little by little, we stopped seeing these things simply as products. They became reminders of Christ, and of His love and grace. The work became woven together with prayer. Every cross points to Christ. Every icon speaks of a faith carried from one generation to the next. And every package reminds us that someone, somewhere, is seeking to keep Christ close. Each one leaves our hands with a prayer.

We often feel that we have been greatly blessed. Not because of anything we have achieved. But because we have been allowed to spend our lives close to these things.

Close to the story of Christ.

Close to the people of the Holy Land.

Close to the faith that continues to draw people to Him.

For this, we are deeply grateful.

This is who we are.

A family from Galilee.

Doing our best to serve faithfully.

Trying to honor the people who make these pieces.

And thankful that God has allowed us to spend our days in this work.

Everything else has been grace.