Unsung heroes remembered at women’s event in Port Edward
The fashion show was impressive, and we have good reason to be excited about the young designers emerging in our neighbourhoods.
The Green Net built an ecobrick bench – our fifth to date – at Secret Sands Hotel in Glenmore, Port Edward, as part of a wonderful Women’s Day programme.
The day exemplified love, unity, collaboration and fun – a beautifully inclusive celebration of the women present, those honoured by the InVisible Women ecHo Bench project, and the many men who contributed to the day in support of the women in their lives.
We crafted a beautiful, dainty bench on the footprint of a previous bench, painted it to match the rock it’s built on, and asked those present to add their handprints – in colours of indigenous plants including pincushion, mdoni and coral.
The bench will soon sport a QR code for visitors to find out more about the InVisible Women ecHo Bench project, read the tribute notes, and add tribute notes of their own.
This project is growing nationwide, providing communities with an easy way to deal with plastic waste by honouring the women of our land and our Mother Earth.
We also remember the other unsung heroes in this story. These people have spent many, many hours, tirelessly bending to pick up waste, especially on beaches, and making ecobricks, which gets pretty hard on the hands, wrists and elbows. Huge thanks to the ecobrick makers – your efforts have not been in vain.
Local designers knocked our socks off with an inspiring fashion show, which focused on natural and recycled materials.
Andiswa Zama of Ciwe Crochets from Sigidi in the Eastern Cape presented a stunning range of crocheted jackets featuring beautiful geometric forms and fantastic colour combinations; equally dramatic were the jackets of Umlazi Recycling, which combined heavy fabric and leather with bold design panels made of crocheted waste plastic; Beth Rautenbach has been experimenting with natural dyeing techniques, specifically using leaves, and her range for the day featured a wide range of thrifted garments brought to life with organic texture; and Matt Kroll of Vuka Valley, Port Edward wowed the crowd with his hand-crafted leather jackets, waistcoats and skirts.
The fashion on show was impressive, and we have good reason to be excited about the young designers emerging in our neighbourhoods.
Secret Sands ensured a rich and enriching day for all present, providing a free paper-making workshop in the gorgeous gallery – this was a fun learning experience and everyone had a beautiful piece of handmade paper (including seed paper!) to take home. It goes without saying that the food was spectacular: beautiful to look at, delicious to eat, and varied.
Happy Women’s Month. May we all find and balance the energies of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine that form our whole being.
Photos by Secret Sands Glenmore Beach
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