Supporting local crafters in recycling trash to art
Ben & Bear, operating in Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal, sources and supports local suppliers throughout Africa, where vision becomes a reality in the form of artistic, yet innovative and functional products. Creating job opportunities and training for many gifted crafters on this continent, it has produced eco fashion, lifestyle, corporate and promotional products, which support sustainable businesses.
Each item has a story made from material that was previously discarded and now been given a new lease of life that is beautiful, functional and stylish. These contemporary products are made by small emerging businesses, creating employment and providing the necessary skills training or utilising skills that have previously been made redundant in communities that are suffering from high unemployment rates. These form the fundamental pillars of the enterprise.
Founder, Raewyn du Toit says, "The driving force of my company is based on changing the mind-set to more ethical consumerism and providing a platform for consumers to find local ethical products. I can sum it up in the quote by Paul Barken who said, 'Business is the only mechanism on the planet today powerful enough to produce the changes necessary to reverse environmental and societal degradation.'
"It demonstrates how in today's budget-restrained, time deficient society, we can take that which has been thrown away and deemed redundant and transform it into something useful, functional and new. We are also supporting employment opportunities for local South African and African innovators and craftspeople who are working within credible and sustainable businesses, which empower and enrich themselves as well as their communities. We now need the valuable support buyers can give by changing their own or their company's purchasing habits, by not focusing solely on mass produced imported goods, but by finding local options.
"We would like to invite decision makers to continue with us on our journey and help encourage others to do the same, within both the corporate and private markets. We face an ever-darkening issue on both the social and environmental horizons, if consumers don't attempt to shift their mind-set by supporting local enterprise and giving back to the communities surrounding them or by striving to buy eco/recycled products, where it is practical."
Africa owns an enormous wealth of skill, innovators, designers and crafters who produce unique and resilient goods that are proudly African and that epitomize what this continent represents. In 2011, the value of imports from China to Africa came to $93 billion.
For more information on the products, inspirational stories of suppliers and collections, visit www.benandbear.com or www.facebook.com/benandbear.
