‘Mira Mira’ meaning ‘Look Look’ sprang to mind when Bronwyn Thomson was thinking about what to call her new shop on 3 Sandymount Green.

A sentiment constantly expressed by the children she met on her travels in South America seemed apt because that is exactly what you’ll feel like saying as you discover something new and unexpected at every turn in this Aladdin’s Cave.

It is crammed with bags, Buddhas, jewellery, pottery, glassware, Christmas candles and gift ideas, making it the perfect stop for your Christmas shopping.

Sipping our coffee in Brown’s recently on a bitterly cold day, I wondered why she would leave her native South Africa to set up shop here. Having graduated with a Fine Arts degree, majoring in photography, Browyn worked in film but, like most of her contemporaries, decided to go to England on a Commonwealth visa with a view to making money and travelling around Europe.

Swiftcall, the company she was working for in London, then asked her to come and help set up their business here in Dublin. The first time Bronwyn came here it was on a weekend trip and she felt at home straight away.

Bronwyn’s life was about to change– unknown to her this was to become her home. Her friend Mandy introduced her to the concept of Fair Trade through her shop ‘Dikini’ in Sandymount which sold hand-made paper and jewellery.

Bronwyn became passionate about developing countries producing a quality product for the Western market and in return paying the people a fair wage for their craft.

She witnessed first hand how buying Fair Trade changes people’s lives, having travelled extensively and living for three months in Nepal, working with the people, where she was able to control the prototype in order that the product would appeal to the sophisticated taste and high expectations of a European market.

All these people want is the ability to feed, clothe and educate their children, which is what buying Fair Trade enables them to do, a simple choice by us that doesn’t necessarily mean more expense. ‘Mira Mira’s’ assortment of goods from China, Nepal, India and Thailand offer a range of goods that not only is unusual but also empowers a people that otherwise live through exploitation.

Happily residing close by in Ringsend, Browyn fills her shop in Sandymount with a variety of goods that caters for every taste, age and budget. The red and white beaded herd of cattle to the smiling Buddha have accommodated the beautiful beaded and paper mache Christmas decorations hanging on the Christmas tree along with the Christmas gifts and candles.

If you’re searching for that extra special present for Christmas in this age of consumerism and commercialism isn’t it nice to think that with everything you buy you get a chance to give something back? The spirit of Christmas is certainly alive and well in ‘Mira Mira’ on Sandymount Green.