About Wren

Wren is a label I started in March 2008 when I could not find a hand-bag that I liked after searching for months. I wanted something with a story, something beautiful, something not mass-produced and something practical and simple. From this my first bag design emerged: The Small Town Bag. My range then grew and now includes many different styles that you can see in my shop.

An important aspect of Wren is that everything is done with sustainability in mind and with nature as the inspiration. For example, the Coffee Bags are all made from the sacks that carry coffee beans around the world. Once they reach their destination and the beans have been roasted, they have no more use. I always try and use natural and organic fabrics where I can  – the Coffee Sling & Shoulder Bags are 100% organic – no zips or anything like that. The Antique Linen & Leather bags are as natural as possible with the linen being homespun and handwoven. I also try to keep waste to a minimum and use the left-over pieces of coffee sack for Coffee Clutches and off-cuts of fabric from previous ranges for Bird Purses.

I believe that a bag is a reflection of who you are and thus, each one is unique by it’s combination of fabrics and in the case of the coffee bags, well each fair trade coffee sack is unique by it’s number, print and design. Originality of these bags does not need to be made, it’s just there.

Simply put, Wren tries to make your life simpler, organised and wonderful. I hope you can find a Wren bag that like I found, is that ‘perfect’ bag you were always looking for.

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To read more see blog posts:

• How Wren bags are made
• A Big Blessing
• Wren Wrapping
• Design your own 1) Coffee Bag 2) Big Town Bag and Small Town Bag
• How the Organic Coffee Sling Bag came to be
• Wren’s unique Wooden Buttons
• The Coffee Clutch

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Articles:

• Etsy Storque: Quit your job
• Die Burger: Sakpas Modegiere
• Etsy Storque: Shop Local South Africa
• Business day: Handmade items get hand up in cyber mall

Features:

• House & Leisure: Jun 10 – Q & A, pg 138
• 567 Cape Talk: Jan 10 - Best Green Blogs of 2009
• Home & Leisure: Nov 09 – Handmade Nation, Pg 31
• Oprah Magazine: Aug 09 – Comfort Zone, Pg 116
• Oprah Magazine: July 09 – The O-list, Pg 89
• Top Billing Magazine: July 09 – Go Green, Pg 112
• Mango Juice Magazine: Feb 09 – Juiciest buy, Pg 10
• Mango Juice Magazine: Oct 08 – Design File, Pg 10
• Get It Magazine: Sept 08 – The Buzz, Pg 7

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Wren Bags are available:

• Online @ Etsy

• In South Africa @ the Designgoods market in Salt River, Cape Town every 2nd Saturday from 9am – 2pm.

DATES for 2010:
June: 12th & 26th
July: 10th & 24th

• Scarecrow Organics in Stellenbosch
  : Stockists of Organic Coffee Shoulder & Sling Bags and Coffee Clutch Sets

• Artvark in Kalk Bay, Cape Town
  : Stockists of Coffee Travel Bags, Organic Coffee Shoulder & Sling Bags and PPC Cement Laptop Bags.

• Africa Nova in the Cape Quarter, Cape Town
  : Stockists of PPC Cement Laptop Bags.

• Lim in Kloof Street, Cape Town
  : Stockists of PPC Cement Laptop Bags.

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