Maps

I value the wrapping of gifts and I carry this through to Wren bag packaging.

Each Wren bag is packaged in a brown paper bag sealed with a safety pin decorated with brightly coloured beads. The safety pin is a traditional South African clothing item used instead of a button to hold clothes together and in my context, it serves as a sticker closing the classic and simple brown paper bag. The safety pin can be used later for whatever reason you can dream up.

This weekend I was playing with a new and ‘bigger’ bag design that I am hoping to introduce soon. For this bag I realized I needed bigger packaging. Brown paper bags come in standard sizes and the one I use is the biggest one available. I gave this ‘problem’ some thought and this is was what I came up with:

I have used the maps that I had under my bed. These maps of Cape Town and the Cederberg were being thrown away due to printing errors, name changes or because they were out of date and I ’saved’ them thinking I would find a purpose for them someday. Until now the only purpose I have found for them were my wall-art swallows but now I can finally say - they were worth keeping. I have taken something that was waste to somebody and have given it ‘new’ life. I copied the pattern from the brown paper bag and adjusted the size proportions. I have never been good at origami, maths or patience so this was a true challenge (and I was doing it on a Sunday afternoon!). After many frustrating samples I finally got it right and I am so excited with the result.

To seal the ‘map’ bag I came up with the idea to use old stamps. This relates to the map itself, distance and ties back to the theme of ‘no waste’. To get the old and already used stamp to stick I use double-sided tape.

So now you know - if you buy a Wren bag it comes beautifully wrapped. The current size bag is wrapped with the brown paper bag and beaded safety pin, if you buy more than one Wren bag you will get the recycled map bag and South African stamp and if you buy one of the bigger Wren bags that will soon be launched you will also get the recycled map bag and SA stamp.

Silhouettes have an amazingly calming effect. I have two silhouettes pasted on my bedroom walls.

I came across this poor cat silhouette, all tattered and torn sorting through my mom’s old school stuff (she was a Grade 2/Sub b teacher) and became transfixed with it. It was so beautiful I couldn’t let it be thrown away. So…I got hold of some charcoal card, traced the shape and cut it out. It now sits on my skirting board and every time I see it, it’s simple beauty calms me.

The other cut-out I have are three swallows.

I have a fascination with maps and I hate the way that old maps, artworks, just get chucked away. My first idea to ‘rescue’ them was to create paper bags out of them. But this never materialized and I still have a stack of old maps under my bed. At the same time as this was going on I was busy doing a textile design with birds and loved the shapes I was coming across. I choose the swallow silhouette, worked on it a bit and cut it out of the maps. They now fly above my bed and fill a wall that would ordinarily be quite boring and plain. I love the correlation created by the swallow and the map. I have gotten a lot of compliments about them and really all they were was an experiment to fill a space when I had no money and little time. I have grown to love them and think I will keep them when I move one day.