The Joinery is a sustainable product design brand based in Cape Town, South Africa. The brand, founded by sisters, Natalie and Kim Ellis, was created to lower the carbon footprint and save our home planet. All the products designed by them use plastic bottles as their raw material and, in a bid to support local talent, they hire artisans and tailors who are a part of informal settlements in South Africa.
They make sure that all the steps they have undertaken are sustainable from designing the product to delivering them. They have managed to recycle half a million plastic bottles to produce a fabric called Future Felt to construct a range of products including laptop and Ipad sleeves, tote bags, and travel accessories.
1. Laundry Basket | The Joinery
The ‘Laundry Basket’ is made of felt fabricated from recycled plastic bottles. The leather handles attached on either side of the high-quality storage basket is made of natural vegetable-tanned leather.
The laundry basket is 59.5 cm high and 39 cm wide and is available in colors such as charcoal with tan leather and grey with tan leather.
2. Placemat
The luxe product ‘Placemat’ is another product made from felt manufactured using recycled plastic bottles. The Placemat is a quirky accessory to the dining table as it also comes with a cutlery holder made of natural vegetable tanned leather featuring a press button with the brand name monogrammed on it.
It can be bought individually and in sets of 4. The Placemat, similar to the Laundry Basket, is available in the colors, charcoal with tan leather and grey with tan leather. The Placemat is 40 cm in length and 29.8 cm in width.
3. Planter/Storage Basket
Another product from the homeware department of The Joinery, the Storage Basket, made from recycled plastic bottles, is designed to hold small household items. It can also be used as a Planter and is functional and portable due to its being light and having handles on either side. The stylish yet minimal planter storage box is available in the colors charcoal and grey. It is 21.5 cm wide and 22 cm high.
4. Laptop Satchel Bag
The ‘Laptop Satchel Bag’ made from the future felt recycled from plastic bottles that display thick and natural vegetable tanned leather handles and straps. It has slots for mobile phones, pens, keys, documents, sunglasses, and memory sticks. It is available in charcoal and grey colors. It is 42.5 cm long and 30 cm wide.
5. Together Tote Bag | The Joinery
The ‘Together Tote Bag’, made from Future Tex™- a material manufactured combining recycled plastic bottles and textile waste- is designed to stand as a token of hope and unity. These tote bags, made by skilled seamstresses from women cooperatives, and, is part of an initiative to empower women from poor economic and social backgrounds. Each tote bag is 36 cm long, 8 cm wide and 44 cm high and The Joinery donates a percentage of each purchase of the tote bag to Food Flow, a local farm in South Africa.
6. Wine Tote
The Joinery has come up with an efficient way to transport Wine bottles in the form of ‘Wine Tote’. Like the previous products of the brand, the ‘Wine Tote’ too, is produced using the future felt material. It is available in the color grey and has the word wine written on it with a one-line drawing of a wine bottle beside the text. The bag is 33.3 cm high and 33 cm long in diameter. The bag has long, sturdy cloth handles that are comfortable to use.
7. Weekender Bag
The ‘Weekender Bag’ is The Joinery Brand’s version of a travel bag, the making of which requires the recycling of around 24 plastic bottles. It is a stylish bag with natural vegetable leather handles and features a pocket lining. It is available to buyers in the colors, charcoal with black leather, charcoal with tan leather, grey with black leather and grey with tan leather.
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Image Sources: Weekender Bag ©business.facebook.com/TheJoinery
8. Notebook
The Joinery also sells an A5 Notebook as a part of the Office Products Category. The skin of the notebook is detachable and is made from 5 recycled plastic bottles and therefore, can be reused. The notebook has 192 pages of handmade paper, with a natural vegetable leather bookmark and diary closure with a press button.
9. Gift Box
The Joinery collaborated with a luxury hotel and restaurant brand,’Relais & Châteaux’, to design gift boxes/pouches using their recycled material, future felt and, one plastic bottle recycled per gift box made. The container acts as a travel document holder. The tag of the pouch can be reused as a baggage tag as well. The gift box features an embroidered monogram of the Relais & Chateaux logo.
10. Eco Tote Bag and Pouch | The Joinery
Carrol Boyes and The Joinery collaborated to make a beautiful and sustainable tote bag and pouch and display a beautiful line drawing of a woman by Carrol Boyes. The bag and pouch, manufactured using the future felt, requires 7000 plastic bottles to make 1000 bags and pouches. It is a multipurpose tote bag and pouch used for all occasions. To make 1000 bags and pouches, 7000 plastic bottles are recycled to manufacture the future felt material required.
