We don't need to hark on about why we should all be thinking more sustainably – there's enough news about the climate crisis to clearly tell us that – but even for the best of us, we still need a nudge in the environmentally friendly direction to make the changes that'll better our planet.
In this day and age, a reusable coffee cup is no longer your get-out-of-jail-free-card for acting sustainably in other areas of your life. Now more than ever, we need to be putting our green thinking caps on and addressing how we can buy more sustainably with the clothes we wear, the beauty we put on our skin and the ornaments we place in our homes. So, this September, we're doing exactly that.
Our new 'Sustainable September' series will be highlighting the best sustainably-minded products and brands that range over fashion, beauty and homeware, everyday throughout the month, showing that there are earth-affable options that you can opt for. Today, we're looking at, Dinosaur Designs, a brand that has pioneered the use of eco-friendly resin in homeware.
Waste not, want not: that's an adage we can always be behind.
We've recently seen sartorial leftovers being up-cycled in the fashion world, and plastic waste being re-purposed for new packaging within beauty, but within homeware, we're still yet to hear of many brands who are re-using what's already available. Stepping onto the sustainability soapbox to start making this the norm, are Australian wife and husband duo, Louise Olsen and Stephan Ormandy, with Dinosaur Designs.
Founded in 1985, the couple started working with resin as students in art school, initially designing and creating unique jewellery. These received global notoriety when supermodel, Christy Turlington appeared in the pages of British Vogue with both arms adorned in Dinosaur Designs bangles. But it wasn’t until 1995 when the brand would expand into homeware, creating the artistic objects that are still very much in demand today.
Often heralded for being the combination of homeware and art, Dinosaur Design's objects are handcrafted out of resin. As an effort not to harm the planet that inspires their designs, the brand only uses resin that is developed from a by-product of the oil industry. In its unprocessed state it is essentially a waste product, which can either be burnt, or if not used in time, can solidify making it unusable and can end up in landfill. The team then hand make each piece using low-energy methods, and will combine any leftover resin to create unique, multi-coloured pieces specifically for their Extinct store. They even go as far as to collect all the remnants of resin that fall to the bottom of the barrel packaging, to make sure there is absolutely no waste when the container is broken down to be recycled. Louise and Stephan are always exploring new working methods to minimise waste and electricity consumption.
Other areas of the business also don't falter on ethicality standards. The brand's brass and silver jewellery is handmade by skilled crafts people in India and Indonesia, with the duo going to great lengths to make sure that their partners share the same values of ethics. The brands leather is sourced from a small, family run factory in Greece, which sustainably produces the material using vegetable dyes, and their pearls are sourced from small, family-run farms in China, with each family specialising in a particular shape. These factories meet a high standard and are free from child labour, and have achieved the highest official government rating for anti-corruption, including anti-environmental corruption.
Today, Dinosaur Designs is breaking the boundaries between design, fashion and art, with an organic quality that juxtaposes the raw materials that they use. We're rawr-ing to see more!
Shop the Dinosaur Designs post below:
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