From Tools to Trees

February 07, 2017 2 Comments

I own just three hand tools for my business. I bought them from EBay for about $30 four years ago.

They don't look like much, but these are the very same tools that inspired me to make my first necklace. I went on to sell that necklace at a local market in Perth four years ago. The fun of designing + creating a piece of jewellery that someone actually wanted to wear (+ pay me money for it!), was exhilarating.

After that market, I was hooked into making necklaces + earrings which then later evolved into brooches, hairpins, cufflinks, rings + bracelets. I initially began using fine metals to make my jewellery, but quickly fell in love with using eco-friendly bamboo wood as my material of choice.

I guess you could say that these tools were at the birth of my business.

These hand tools are makers of my history, sliding into my hands at a moments notice. Late at night, when I'm tired + should have taken myself to bed, they feel like an extension of my hands. They fit comfortably like an old pair of gloves. They have seen late nights + early mornings, panicked minds + singing days. Even unceremoniously thrown into suitcases to take to craft markets in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide + Brisbane.

Wherever the business took me, the tools were needed.

Four years on + these little tools have inspired me to make the business have its own mark on the world. Rather than existing solely for revenue gains (+ putting more environmental pressure on the world), One Happy Leaf exists to make the world better + greener. I have a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology so it seemed only natural for me to ensure that a portion of profits from the business would be used to plant trees which would also serve to look after endangered animals. I am so proud that because of your purchases we have rehabilitated lands by planting multiple trees (groves even!) through the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife.

While the tools are a little blunt + in need of an upgrade, I still love using them knowing that they started a business which is leading to a budding social enterprise.