Bowerbird Gift Ideas for the Sustainable Shopper!
Once again the season of gift-giving is upon us, and the Bowerbird Girls have brought together their favourite gift ideas for you! We know it can be a tricky time of the year. Amidst all the hustle and bustle of finishing up the year, we also think about ways we can show our loved ones we care. Suddenly, it's the final minute at the shops and you're scrambling to find something that might fit the person on your list. Why All The Talk About Gift-Giving? This year, you can say goodbye to the gifts that aren't necessary or those last-minute attempts. We have put together a few of our favourite gift ideas for the sustainable shopper. These gifts are a great way to show your loved ones you care, without causing a negative impact on the environment. BONUS! You can also support local makers. Often when we buy last-minute gifts that are in our budget, we don‘t pay too much attention to how the gift was made. This is completely natural and the hard-to-avoid trap of the gift-giving season! Whether it be fast fashion, unethically manufactured or unnecessary items, buying gifts ain‘t always easy! Every day feels like Christmas in the Bowerbird store! Is It Necessary? Firstly, we can ask ourselves: does this person in our life really need or expect a gift? Often in the mania of Christmas time, brands are telling us we need to buy, buy, buy! This can lead to unnecessary gifts
Get To Know Your Fabrics: What Does It Really Mean To Be Sustainable?
How to find sustainable fabrics! We‘re back with another helpful post to help you navigate the world of all sustainable fabrics. It can seem like everytime we go shopping, words like sustainably sourced, ethically made, slow fashion are thrown around. So how can we know what that really means? How do we easily spot the go-to sustainable fabrics? This week, we are going to learn together the classic staples, the difference between man made or synthetic, sustainable fabrics plus our favorite new initiatives that we have been hearing about! Did someone say Bananatex?! Happy reading! First Things First: Easy To Spot Fibres! In a recent blog post, we‘ve touched on how to shop sustainably. This includes various broad tips and tricks from the girls here at Bowerbird on how we like to approach our consumption with a switched-on mindset. If you haven‘t read it yet, you can find it here! It‘s a great place to start. We also have written about what we do as a company; you can find that here! Now that we all know our basics, and the basics of each fibres, we‘re going to delve a little deeper into the production of some of our favourite sustainable fabrics. This includes how we can understand the process to help us shop a little smarter! Cotton Cotton. This is a tricky one, but as it's a natural fibre, we are in full support. Cotton can require an immense amount of water to grow, and
An Easy Guide To Classic House Plants
House plants. One of our favorite go-tos for brightening up a living space and adding a breath of fresh air. No matter which space you‘re in, a plant or two can dramatically liven up the place and help it feel alive. House plants can be a wonderful tool in your decorating kit and have many positive benefits for the space around you! I know, I know. Sometimes it can feel like a commitment. Maybe you feel a little worried about the caring role for the plant. Luckily for you, we have the solution. I have compiled a list of my favorite go-to house plants to help liven up your living space, and bring a smile to your dial! First Things First Though, Why House Plants? Air Quality Did you know that house plants can have a positive effect on the quality of the air? It‘s true! It‘s inevitable that when we live or work in a busy place, we are going to be inhaling a lot of pollution. Couple this with all the carbon dioxide that we inhale from those around us and it‘s safe to say that we aren‘t getting the fresh, clean, outside air our bodies desire. Now I‘m not saying that house plants will solve all your breathing problems, but they will at least provide you with some healthy, happy air. By absorbing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the plants then filter it through their microorganisms and give it back to
How to Shop Sustainably. Simple Tips and Tricks from the Girls at Bowerbird!
It seems more and more that every time we enter a store or scroll through our instagram newsfeed we face the dilemma of how to shop sustainably. As the growing trend for green fashion rises, so does the opportunity for businesses to market to you based on these interests. But how do you really know the difference between a green lifestyle and just plain greenwashing? Here are some simple tips and tricks from us here to navigate the sustainable world and make your shopping habits twice as nice! First things first. What really IS a sustainable product? Plain and simple, a sustainable product provides benefits for the environment, society and the economy. It is a product that is transparent from start to finish. Sustainable products are made within fair working conditions. They are products which materials have been ethically sourced. A sustainable product is aware of its impact on the climate and takes steps to reduce said impact. What is Fast Fashion? To identify this, let’s first take a look at what is not sustainable. The fast-fashion model foundation is cheap manufacture to sell vast quantities of low-cost profits to make a profit. In order to encourage consumer consumption, the companies convince the customer that they need the latest product. That their life will be improved by acquiring the latest product. That in order to be trendy/happy, the perpetual buying of low value, fast-moving products is a necessary commitment. Nobody is Perfect Though! However, we know that we are not perfect
Handcrafting the Bowerbird Earrings!
Here at Bowerbird Collections we love making and experimenting with new ethical jewellery! If you've popped into our store or peeped at our Instagram you may have noticed our colourful range of ceramic jewellery. These little pieces add such a lovely pop of colour to any outfit. We believe that ethical jewellery is just as much a piece of your lifelong wardrobe as your favourite coat or pair of jeans. This is why we think it is so important to provide an alternative to colourful earrings made with plastic or low quality metals. Peta is always busy making sure we have enough of each colour, she even hand paints the stripes and spots on every little bell.Photo Credit: Bowerbird Collections This weeks blog post is all about our creative process and what spurred us to start making ceramic, ethical jewellery in the first place. Like everything created at Bowerbird, these were an idea that took careful preparation and planning. For us, it is always about creating timeless pieces that we love to wear. Aren't they so sweet lined up in a row
Our Go-To List of Ethical Wool Brands to Get Cosy at Home With
Winter is soon upon us! I don't know about you guys but even here in Brisbane we are feeling the chill and the need for some ethical wool! Couple that with the sudden need to stay inside and remake our routines. Well it looks like comfortable clothing is on the menu! And what can be cosier than some comforting wool to wrap around you. Even better though, is the option of comforting AND ethical wool. At Bowerbird we have a focus on sustainable practices, and consciously choose our materials to work with. We offer natural fibres for our clothing, vegan alternative handbags and leather pieces that utilise offcuts. We are not perfect. But we try to do our very best. To read more about what we do, check it out on our blog post about sustainability. Wool itself can be a controversial material. Couple that with companies greenwashing and you might find it incredibly difficult to navigate the brands. We believe in quality over quantity and support high quality garments with a slow-fashion mentality. After all, leather shoes you buy to last a lifetime are certainly more sustainable than 20 pairs of synthetic, trendy ones. But what does it mean to be ethical wool? Photo Credit: Jeff Whitlock, Pinterest What makes it ethical wool? I'm not going to beat around the bush here. Wool is a tricky one when produced large scale. But there are some incredibly sustainable and long lasting features of it
Freshen up Your Living Space – Simple Tips and Tricks to Bring New Life Into Your Home
Nowadays we seem to be spending a lot more time at home, taking in our living space. For most, the living space is a place where you can unwind and be yourself. A place where you can surround yourself with things that make you happy, and express your personality. However, it also may be a place that you haven't had much time to refresh and update. Somewhere that has fallen by the wayside as other commitments have taken priority. With all this time at home the living space is the new office, social event and personal area. Maybe you are starting to realise your living space is in dire need of an update, and you feel the sudden urge to rejuvenate and bring new life into it. Redoing your living space doesn't mean a brand new renovation. It doesn't even mean throwing out the old and bringing in the new. Here at Bowerbird, we place emphasis on using what you have around you before buying brand new. We've put together a list to help guide you through our simple tips and tricks to bring new life into a tired space. With steps varying from simple refreshers to dramatic overhauls. Before you start though we recommend considering this
5 Bright and Conscious Clothing Brands We Can’t Get Enough Of
Here at Bowerbird, we hold such a focus on the importance of a strong and ethical ethos. We find it incredibly important to take initiative in the making process where you can. Our small team based in Paddington all carry these values in their work to provide conscious clothing and homewares. After all, our products are our responsibility from start to finish in production! Want to know more about what we do as a business to serve both you and the planet? Check it out here! But needless to say, we don't only pay attention to what we are doing as a business! We are constantly looking around us, and being inspired by different brands with a focus on transparency, sustainability and an ethical approach to fashion. We thought maybe you might want to see these too and so we've compiled a small list of our favourite bold, bright and conscious clothing brands with staples to last you through not only this Autumn, but the next one, and the next! Variety Hour Big, bold and bright! The patterns crafted at Variety Hour are nothing short of attention-grabbing. Perhaps most striking about the ethos at Variety Hour is their belief that prints don't need to change every season, in fact they can be timeless. Their painterly prints are designed to make you happy and they are designed to last. Both are qualities we strongly support at Bowerbird. Founded by textile designer, Cassie Byrnes, Variety Hour is a Melbourne
5 Bright and Conscious Clothing Brands We Can’t Get Enough Of
Here at Bowerbird, we hold such a focus on the importance of a strong and ethical ethos. We find it incredibly important to take initiative in the making process where you can. Our small team based in Paddington all carry these values in their work to provide conscious clothing and homewares. After all, our products are our responsibility from start to finish in production! Want to know more about what we do as a business to serve both you and the planet? Check it out here! But needless to say, we don't only pay attention to what we are doing as a business! We are constantly looking around us, and being inspired by different brands with a focus on transparency, sustainability and an ethical approach to fashion. We thought maybe you might want to see these too and so we've compiled a small list of our favourite bold, bright and conscious clothing brands with staples to last you through not only this Autumn, but the next one, and the next! Variety Hour Big, bold and bright! The patterns crafted at Variety Hour are nothing short of attention-grabbing. Perhaps most striking about the ethos at Variety Hour is their belief that prints don't need to change every season, in fact they can be timeless. Their painterly prints are designed to make you happy and they are designed to last. Both are qualities we strongly support at Bowerbird. Founded by textile designer, Cassie Byrnes, Variety Hour is a Melbourne
Local Makers – From Paintings to Fabric with Bowerbird’s Ellie
At Bowerbird we value making with integrity and the work of local makers. So, the majority of our products are made in-house or sourced locally. Each piece therefore has a story worth telling and has inspired us to share them here with you. Bowerbird Collections is a product of the dynamic duo Peta and Ellie Sweatman. Both are creative souls in their own unique way. Pop into the store and you will see the walls covered with artwork by Ellie, some of which, you might be able to spot as the foundation of our signature fabrics.Today we'll peek into the life and process of Bowerbird's own Ellie Sweatman. Questions with Local Maker Ellie Sweatman Ellie Sweatman, a Brisbane-based painter, decided to turn her artwork into fabrics one day when she realised the potential of her paintings. Every fabric that has come from Ellie's artwork tells a unique story in its creation and we thought it was about time we sat down with her to discuss her practice! Hey Ellie! First off as the co-owner and a key fabric designer at Bowerbird Collections, I'd like to ask you how you describe the aesthetic of the company