Material Overview
Reused rice and spice sacks
The rice bags are made from woven polypropylene. It is sturdy material that we are reusing since rice bags are not allowed to be refilled with rice again. While the sacks are widely reused but downgraded as trash bags or similar we love upgrading them into all kinds of bags and accessories. Spices are stored in the good old gunny/hessian/saku/burlap/jute sacks. Locally reused to dry ones feet when stepping into a house we believe they deserve a longer life. The various and funky prints make each product unique. both material are washed before they are tailored into a new life.
Hand loom fabrics
It does not get any more low carbon foot print when it comes to weaving fabrics. With our women powered looms we make fabrics from cotton yarn. While we are still using non organic cotton at the moment we are planning to switch to organic cotton in 2022. The looms can create a variety of patterns and even textures. We are proud to have managed to make the first hand woven fabric from recycled plastic bottles. The bottles are collected by our WLAB project and spun into yarn by Eco Spindles. All in Sri Lanka, connecting high tech with cottage industry.
Reused saris
Worn in different styles in all of Sri Lankan this seemingly endless piece of fabric makes a great material to reuse. Like all clothing it goes out of fashion. Time for us to sharpen the scissor and get to work. Goes without saying all products are unique!
Recycled plastic
Plastic pollution is probably one of the biggest challenges we are facing in the future. It is an amazing innovation and modern life is hardly imaginable. But how we misuse and waste this material is truly mindboggling. With our WLAB project we collect waste plastic from business and from the beach and turn it into useful object. Why not all buttons are made of recycled instead of virgin plastic? It is costly to recover but we love the look and are happy every time we can avoid buying virgin buckles but just squeeze some out ourselfs!
Coconut and coir
Coconut tress and probably the best used plant in Sri Lanka. Every bit an pieces is utilized and turned into amazing natural products. We are using the rubberized coir mats we buy to make kitchen scrubbers but also also as natural padding for surf board bags. In 2022 we want to phase out all synthetic padding and use coir padding even for our laptop covers. From the coconut we make decorative bowls, cute birdhouses or buttons.
Loofah
What and amazing vegetable! The creeper grows pretty much wild in our area and we didn’t even now about how useful it is. Harvested at a young age the fruit can be eaten but left to dry up on the vine it develops a fibrous inner structure. The dried loofah fiber gets very soft and sponge like when wet and dries up quickly. Why someone should use synthetic kitchen when nature provides us with these makes no sense. We are working with the permaculture farm of a local hotelier to bring you these at scale and rid you of everything plastic when washing up.
Fishing rope
This sturdy ropes are made to last but often end up burned or buried on the beaches when they become to entagled to use. We purchase those nets from fishermen and get to work with our weaving skills!
Palmyrah leaves
We are based on the east coast of Sri Lanka and this palm is it’s iconic tree. The products made from Palmyrah and way less industrialized than those of the coconut palm tree. Weaving of the leaves is and old artisan craft that is being pushed aside by cheap plastic basket but we love to keep going and preserve the skill.
