It was World Environment Day and World Ocean Day last week and we thought it would be a good chance to share a few ideas for buying an ethical, local and environmentally friendly purchase whether it is for a gift or for you and your family. Every choice we make contributes to a better future for us all.
World Environment Day is the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment. It is the “people’s day” for doing something to take care of the Earth. That “something” can be local, national or global. That something could be switching to a more sustainable product or making a different choice in the brands you support.
World Ocean Day On this day People around our blue planet celebrate and honor the ocean, which connects us all. A healthy world ocean is critical to our survival. Every year, World Oceans Day provides a unique opportunity to honor, help protect, and conserve our world’s shared ocean.
With both of these days in mind here are our top picks from some amazing Sydney Made makers, each of which have sustainability and the world’s best interest at heart.
Fashion:
Ruby Raisin is the brainchild of designer and vintage fabric collector and lover Mia Penn. She hand makes vibrant and unique women’s clothing from vintage and new fabrics, with a bold use of colour, pattern and hand screen printed illustrations.
Our designs are a modern take on classic form, made from natural fibres with careful detailing to ensure excellent fit and comfort. Each piece is one of a kind or limited edition, produced in our Sydney studio or by local makers using environmentally conscious and ethical practices.
We aim for each quality piece to strike the perfect balance between a hand touch and a professional finish so it can be enjoyed every day, and treasured for many years to come!
You can find more of Mia’s wonderful work on her website or follow along on Instagram and Facebook.
Kitchen:
Parva: Little Things Kirsty, the creator of Parva:Little Things started experimenting with organic skincare preparations after the birth of her son in 2012. After much research and study of skincare formulation, Kirsty decided to take a simpler, fresher approach. She started experimenting on herself, friends and family and quickly realised that a simplified routine with real ingredients with no synthetic preservatives or additives is much safer for the Earth and our skin.
She launched Parva: Little Things in 2015 selling organic, small batch skincare and Beeswax Food Wraps made from secondhand cloth.
She makes products being mindful of the impact they have on the Earth and our skin. Kirsty sources ingredients as locally as possible, grown as ethically as possible and packaged in low impact compostable and refillable containers. She adds botanicals, wild flowers and weeds, medicinal herbs and spices to her formulations to create unique and effective preparations.
Parva Beeswax Wraps are handmade in Sydney and are proudly small batch and limited print runs. Kirsty sources secondhand cloth from charity stores and remnants from fellow makers helping improve their wastage and creating lasting wraps while sharing resources.
She also shares her knowledge of low impact living through regular workshops in and around Sydney.
You can find about more about her next workshops, follow her on Instagram or Facebook.
Homewares:
Maya Muse is all about textiles! All of Maya’s homewares collection are made the old fashioned way; screen printed by hand, using hand mixed inks and beautiful 100% linen. These traditional techniques and natural fibers work perfectly to complement modern, Australian inspired prints in a delicious palette.
Maya Muse Textiles is committed to producing locally in Sydney, because Maya herself believes in supporting local business. She can be assured that her products are produced in an ethical and sustainable way when she has strong relationships with all my suppliers and machinists, most of which are also small family run businesses. One of the most rewarding elements of running such a grass roots operation is the friendships she have formed with the people who help to bring Maya Muse Textiles to life.
Each colour is hand mixed in the studio. She uses water based, solvent free inks and has a sustainable, low impact approach to materials and practices.
She believes in filling homes with quality pieces that are loved and that are made with integrity. ‘’Great design should be timeless rather than responding to short term seasonal trends. Design should be for longevity.’’
You can read more about Maya on her website, or on Instagram and Facebook.
Beauty:
Kiss Ready Lips At Kiss Ready, everything is made by hand and with a lot of care and love. They select every natural ingredient, sourcing local and using food grade when they can to bring you simple, uncomplicated but effective natural skincare.
All the products are enriched with omega-rich Australian grown Chia Seed oil. They also love plants, oils, clays and minerals not too far away from home. They are thoughtfully handcrafted in small batches to create green skincare products which are not just good for the skin, but the planet too.
They are all about spreading the love, so customers can be assured that products have been formulated to minimise the use of unnecessary ingredients that can harm the environment or stress out our little animal friends. Our packaging is mostly glass and from recycled or recyclable content to leave as little footprint on Mother Earth.
You can read more about the products and ethos on their website, follow along on Instagram and Facebook.
We hope you have found something inspiring that you might want to buy next time you need a gift, or a treat for yourself as there is nothing wrong with that! Thank you for coming and stopping by, see you soon!
You can support World environment day in lots of ways and not just on one day of the year, all year round by making conscious purchasing decisions and asking questions about where the things you are buying come from.
Compiled by Katy Dee of Shiztastic
To see more of our creative makers and designers, follow our Facebook page: Sydney Made
To see more of our creative makers and designers, follow our Facebook page: Sydney Made