Audrey's Craft: Turning Waste Into Art

In our last article on the “Change Makers," we discussed how Aliyu Sadiq and his team, Ecocykle,  are converting waste into reusable products to provide income for the youth.

Today, we will be discussing Esther Ubak, how just like the Ecocykle team, is turning trash into treasures. 

Growing up, Esther had a habit of picking up waste most especially inorganic wastes, and hoarding them at home, you could say other people’s poisons were her meat.

Despite her interest in reducing waste in her community, Esther's efforts could only go as far as just gathering, up until one day.

Still just a teen, and yet eagerly motivated to build a clean community, Esther went into research on ways through which these wastes could be useful. Her research led her to a Video online that showed various DIY and life hacks that involved the repurposing of plastic and other recyclable wastes.

Her discovery led to the birth of Audrey Craft, Esther’s personal Brand, which takes waste such as plastics, metals, and even glasses, and converts them into beautiful Accessory designs for homes offices, and even public spaces.

Her designs have also gone into use in the fashion industry, as some of her works have been used by models for photoshoots. Impressive, right? There’s more thought.

Away from the beautiful designs Esther has been able to craft out of so-called “waste products", let’s explore how Esther has been able to achieve her dream of keeping her community clean through her work with Audrey Craft.

Not to be part of the problem she’s key to defeating, Esther ensures to play her own bit by reducing her waste. To achieve this, what she does during the course of her production is to only gather the quantity of supply needed for her project, and when she’s done, rather than throw away whatever little pieces that were not needed for the project, she converts these bits into other products.

She’s also ensured to keep her carbon footprint minimal by only sourcing materials within her locality.

Apart from Her work with Audrey Craft, Esther has also played a role as a major player in the fight against waste pollution by volunteering for NGOs to create awareness in communities on the health implications of waste and teach these community members practical ways they can dispose their waste or even repurpose some of these wastes. Recently, she was with Safe Haven, an NGO in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, where she along with her few of her team, went from school to school to teach children practical ways they can repurpose wastes into sellable products, as she does with Audrey’s Craft.

There’s an old saying “Charity begins at home". One which Esther continued to apply, as she goes out to create awareness for others, she does not fail in creating this awareness within a space, and amongst those who work with her.

While Audrey’s Craft is still relatively growing, Esther’s efforts even in a small space, have brought quite the impact, not just her community, but also on the minds of young teens, as it encourages them to be both creative and cautious of how they treat their environment.