Our Roots

Nazareth Fair Trade was founded in Galilee in 2003.

Our family comes from the villages around Nazareth. It is where we grew up, where much of our family still lives, and where our connection to the Christian communities and craftsmen of the Holy Land began.

Nazareth, Cana, Mount Tabor and the Sea of Galilee were part of the landscape around us. So were the villages, churches, olive groves, farms and workshops of everyday life.

Our founder, Azar, grew up in one of these villages. His father was a farmer and shepherd, and Azar worked with him from an early age. Life was closer to the land then. The seasons determined much of the work, food came from what was grown and raised, and people depended greatly on their own hands and on one another.

Craft was part of this life. Carpenters worked with olive wood and other local woods, making things for the home as well as crosses and religious pieces. Wood was cut, dried, shaped and repaired. Beads were turned, rosaries assembled and icons painted. Much of this work was learned within families and passed on over time.

In 2003, Azar began Nazareth Fair Trade and started working with Christian craftsmen across the Holy Land. At the time, much of this work was still rarely seen outside the Holy Land. Nazareth Fair Trade became one of the early established suppliers of these products in northern Europe, and over the years our pieces have found their way into churches, religious communities and homes across the world.

Many of the relationships from those years continue today.

That continuity matters to us. So does being dependable. We have always tried to offer well made pieces, to stand behind what we sell, and to make sure that what a customer receives is what we said it would be.

More than twenty years later, Nazareth Fair Trade has grown with our family. The next generation is now part of the work, while our connection to the families and workshops of the Holy Land continues.

The products have changed and developed, but we have become no less particular about the materials or the way they are worked.

Olive wood, especially, deserves that care.

The olive tree has always had a particular place in the life of the Holy Land. A good tree is tended for generations. It feeds a family, gives oil and shade, and can outlive the person who planted it. People become attached to their trees in a way that is difficult to explain until you have lived among them.

The wood we use comes from the annual pruning of the trees, and from trees that have reached the end of their fruit bearing life. Nothing needs to be cut simply to make a cross.

And not every piece of wood is the same. We are particular about what we choose. The wood should be properly seasoned, the grain should have life and character, and the person working it should understand how olive wood behaves. It is a dense, beautiful and sometimes stubborn material. Those who have worked with it for years know how to follow the grain rather than fight it.

We want the finished piece to honour the material it came from. When someone receives a piece of olive wood from the Holy Land, it should feel worthy of where it came from. The grain, the finish and the workmanship should speak for themselves. For many people, receiving something from the Holy Land brings them close, in a small way, to the land of Christ. We never want that feeling to be met by something carelessly made.

A cross is worn. A rosary passes through the hands. An icon finds its place in a home.

We make them knowing they may become part of someone’s life for many years to come.

For us, Nazareth Fair Trade is not separate from our family story. It grew from where we came from, from the people we knew, and from work we have now been doing for more than twenty years.

This is our family, our work and our faith.

These are our roots.