These products, by Original T Bag Designs, come from a group of artists living in Mandela Park in Cape Town, South Africa. These artisans dry out the tea bags in the sun and then empty the bags of their tea leaves. Their families often are involved in these initial steps of the process with kids often asking to help. The bags are then ironed flat and used as tiny canvases for the artist's huge imaginations. These bags are then used to make various products such as greeting cards, coasters, trivets, candle holders, boxes, mirrors, paintings, sun catchers and jewelry.
These coasters are two pieces of glass sandwiched together with brass edging. The coaster on the left hand side of the photo uses a round tea bag while the other two coasters feature square bags. They are hand painted by the artist's working for Original T-Bag Designs with whatever sorts of designs come to the artists. They do take special requests though. These coasters sell for $11 each or 4 for $40.
These dangle earrings are made up of beads and recycled teabags. They come in a box featuring a teabag on the lid. It's stunning to me the inventiveness of the artist's to come up with such a wide array of products using what most people would consider totally useless. The earrings sell for $22 and come in a couple of different designs. They also have necklaces available at $37.
These mirrors are a beautiful example of the hand crafted tea bag designs. The designs can be quite intricate and it leads one to wonder how much time is invested in the production of the mirror. The 13" x 13" size of mirror is $86 and they can custom make different sizes for you upon request.
This collective has been operating since 2000 and now employs 15 full time workers, as well as several part time workers. Their collective is Fair Trade Certified which ensures that the worker's make a fair wage for their work. In fact, the artisans seem to be greatly improving their standards of living through the production of these goods. One artist, Nomsa, even managed to buy a house for herself and her children through her wages painting tea bags. So not only do these products showcase recycling and what good that can do for the environment, they also help to end poverty for the artists and their families.
These products are becoming available throughout the United states through various retailers including museums, fair trade marketplaces and, of course, tea houses. The website has a complete list of retail locations, as well as the ability to purchase online. If you'd like to help without buying anything, they accept donations of used tea bags as well. They have an easy to follow pdf document on how to prepare the used tea bags for their use and an address which donations can be mailed to.
The ingenuity and resourcefulness of these artists is very inspiring. Their artistic recycling is not only good for the eyes, it's good for the planet!
