The art of upcycling – Overberg Recycled Crafts
In this week’s #TMFInTheField we introduce you to Desiré Hearne (Des), one of TMF’s Small Grant recipients. Having grown up in the Grabouw community, Des has always been very aware of the high level of poverty and unemployment in the area. After completing her New Venture Creation Learnership, at the Elgin Learning Foundation, in 2010, she felt that she really needed to apply her new-found knowledge to make a positive difference in her community. When presented with the opportunity to start Overberg Bottle Craft, Des jumped at the opportunity, as she could now not only help to create employment in the area, but also contribute positively towards keeping her community clean by removing large quantities of glass bottles from the normal landfill waste stream.
Within a few months Des was supplying her unique range of glassware products, hand-made from recycled bottles, to a growing number of shops and retail outlets all over the Western Cape. Over the past 5 years Des has steadily grown the business, expanding her range of glassware items to include niche corporate gift items and also funky items for the home and office decorating industry. With the expansion and growth of the business, Des has also been able to provide employment and skills development opportunities to a number of the unemployed Grabouw community members.
Recognising the need to expand her horizons even further, Des has recently renamed and restructured her business as Overberg Recycled Crafts. In so doing she has positioned herself to manufacture a wider range of innovative craft and hand-made items from all forms of recyclable materials, thereby creating even more employment opportunities within the community.
TMF is proudly supporting Overberg Recycling Crafts through our Small Grants Programme.
