‘Upcycling’ is the new buzzword in the handmade world, with plenty of creative crafters breathing new life into unwanted wares. MICHELLE HERBISON spoke to three successful locals making and selling beautiful creations from recycled materials.
Pictures: Reg Ryan
NORTH Geelong mum Alicia Ryan found just what she needed to create a pair of chord pants for her daughter in a quick visit to a Pakington St opportunity shop.
“I thought, ‘Do I have to go off to Spotlight on the other side of town or will I just check out the local op shops?’ I found what I wanted through thinking outside the square a bit,” she remembers.
This successful mission about three years ago led Alicia to pair her love of sewing with a passion for the environment, recycling old materials into unique children’s clothes for her brand, Evie & Liv.
Alicia gives new life to old blankets, tablecloths, tea-towels, curtains and bed-sheets, sewing girls’ dresses and nightgowns and boys’ vests and pyjama pants for children aged one to seven.
The environmentally-conscious sewing enthusiast initially toyed with making daughters Evie, 6, and Liv, 4, clothes from natural fabrics like organic cotton and hemp but eventually realised reusing unwanted household items was even more sustainable – and truly unique.
“At least 50 per cent of the girls’ clothes I make. They love all the compliments they get,” Alicia smiles.
“People can tell the difference between something that’s from Big W and something that’s handmade and they really appreciate that.”
Alicia and her family certainly live an environmentally-conscious lifestyle, with expansive vegetable gardens, chickens and solar panels all part of their immaculate home.
She juggles school and kinder pick-ups and drop-offs with work on her business, making up to 10 garments a week to sell through handmade and vintage sales website Etsy, at markets and to local shops including Quirk and Nurture by Nature Sustainable Living.
“It’s a creative outlet more than anything,” Alicia says.
“I liked sewing as a youngster and thought that would naturally be what I’d get into but I thought the industry wasn’t a good fit for me. When Liv goes to school next year I’ll have a bit more time on my hands to sort out which direction to go in.”
Similarly, Newtown artisan Monica Walters has created an upcycling business to complement her desired lifestyle.
Monica, a former chief executive officer of Cystic Fibrosis Victoria, merges recycled lamps with stacks of pre-loved books to create unique and personal home fixtures under the name Recycled Enlightenment.
“It first started when I had a big stack of books with the lamp sitting on top,” she remembers.
“I thought I should find a way to put book stacks onto lamps. I think the look of an orb of light over books has a magic to it.”
Monica began stockpiling books, lamps and lamp-shades of all shapes and sizes that she found while rummaging in op shops.
She now dedicates about 70 per cent of her time to this work, drilling holes through the books, gluing stacks on lamps, adding embellishments and having the lamps electrician-checked.
“You can do a retro look or a smart arty style or theme the book stacks on a genre like crime books, Bronte sisters or books about cars,” Monica explains.
“I go with colour schemes as well. I’ve been doing big stacks of orange Penguin books because they just look so vibrant and exciting.”
The self-confessed hoarder and op shop fanatic says she couldn’t stand to see books with such history be thrown away.
“The future of books is fairly uncertain but I think it’s important to save as many as we can. I find it really difficult to cope with seeing good things thrown out,” she laughs.
Shops all over the state as far as Colac, Brunswick and Neerim South have responded well to Recycled Enlightenment, with Monica selling locally to Geelong’s Ballyhoo and Living Etc. and Queenscliff’s Bentley and Hope.
“Teenagers really like them. I think it’s that vintage look,” she says.
“And they’re good presents for men because they can be done on all sorts of things like boating or aeroplanes.”
North Geelong’s Jessie Saligari has achieved online success with her spoon necklaces after she began combining her loves of painting and jewellery-making.
A couple of old spoons with great character she found in an op shop last year lit a creative spark in the criminology PHD student.
“Since I was little I’d always been drawing and sketching and the spoon was a perfect size to put a little painting on,” she explains.
Jessie now spends much of her spare time heating and bending old spoons into pendants for necklaces, painting little trees, animals, silhouettes and landscapes on them and finishing them with resin.
“There are a few people bending spoons into rings and things but as far as I know I’m the only one painting on them.”
Her online Etsy store, Jessie’s Junkyard, has attracted sales from as far as Europe and America, with about half her sales going overseas.
“Etsy’s been amazing for it,” she enthuses.
“As soon as I put the spoons up and advertised them as upcycled and recycled that’s when my shop really took off.”
Since moving to Geelong from Hamilton five years ago, Jessie has embraced the region’s bounty of op shops.
“I’m always scouring the op shops looking for things that I can make other things out of. I guess I just like taking something old and giving it a new life.”
Despite deciding to keep her art aside from her criminology career, Jessie hopes to expand her business into markets and shops.
“If I’m at home watching TV or something I always like to keep my hands busy, so I’ll always be doing it after uni or work,” she says.
“The Christmas period was awesome because I sold a lot as presents, so I was able to buy presents for my own family out of that.”
