Rubbish from London’s Thames gives woman new career in Covid-19 times
Flora Blathwayt has made and sold thousands of greeting cards decorated with pieces of plastic from the river
28 June 2021 - 12:27
byWill Russell
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Flora Blathwayt, founder of Washed Up Cards, collects plastics found washed up on the banks of the river Thames, in Deptford, London, the UK, before turning them into card designs in the photo taken on June 24 2021. Picture: REUTERS/TOM NICHOLSON
London — Furloughed from her job and confined to London by coronavirus lockdowns, Flora Blathwayt founded a business based on rubbish she retrieves from the muddy banks of the River Thames.
Just over a year after she was struck by the colourful pieces of plastic she collected as part of a river clean-up, the 34-year-old has made and sold thousands of greetings cards decorated with them.
When she moved to Peckham in southeast London, she sent a batch of plastic-decorated cards to nearby residents offering help if they were shielding from Covid-19.
“They were all the first washed-up cards,” she said. “Some of my neighbours were like ‘these are amazing, you should start selling these’,” she told Reuters.
She now works on the cards alongside a part-time job for a company selling packaging made from seaweed which she joined after being furloughed by, and then made redundant from, a business that makes sauces from unwanted fruit and vegetables.
A geography graduate, she had no formal art training but enjoys being outside and finding new potential in old buttons or plastic straws while cleaning the river bank for a local environmental charity.
“I can’t get out to the countryside ... because we've been stuck in London, so the Thames has become a sort of lovely sanctuary for me, and going out and doing something positive while you're there ... yeah, it makes you feel doubly good.”
She normally makes hundreds of cards a month, although in May she made several thousand to meet a surge in orders after her story appeared in British media. Blathwayt sees her success as part of a wider movement.
“I think the way forward will be people making things and starting businesses which don't have so much impact on the environment, whether it's reusing something, whether it's upcycling something, whether it's making something from waste. I think that's the way forward,” she said.
“So I hope people are going to do more and more — and they are. I'm by no means the first.”
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Rubbish from London’s Thames gives woman new career in Covid-19 times
Flora Blathwayt has made and sold thousands of greeting cards decorated with pieces of plastic from the river
London — Furloughed from her job and confined to London by coronavirus lockdowns, Flora Blathwayt founded a business based on rubbish she retrieves from the muddy banks of the River Thames.
Just over a year after she was struck by the colourful pieces of plastic she collected as part of a river clean-up, the 34-year-old has made and sold thousands of greetings cards decorated with them.
When she moved to Peckham in southeast London, she sent a batch of plastic-decorated cards to nearby residents offering help if they were shielding from Covid-19.
“They were all the first washed-up cards,” she said. “Some of my neighbours were like ‘these are amazing, you should start selling these’,” she told Reuters.
She now works on the cards alongside a part-time job for a company selling packaging made from seaweed which she joined after being furloughed by, and then made redundant from, a business that makes sauces from unwanted fruit and vegetables.
A geography graduate, she had no formal art training but enjoys being outside and finding new potential in old buttons or plastic straws while cleaning the river bank for a local environmental charity.
“I can’t get out to the countryside ... because we've been stuck in London, so the Thames has become a sort of lovely sanctuary for me, and going out and doing something positive while you're there ... yeah, it makes you feel doubly good.”
She normally makes hundreds of cards a month, although in May she made several thousand to meet a surge in orders after her story appeared in British media. Blathwayt sees her success as part of a wider movement.
“I think the way forward will be people making things and starting businesses which don't have so much impact on the environment, whether it's reusing something, whether it's upcycling something, whether it's making something from waste. I think that's the way forward,” she said.
“So I hope people are going to do more and more — and they are. I'm by no means the first.”
Reuters
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