In the Laboratory with Lesley of Essence + Alchemy

All imagery by Essence + Alchemy

Every month as part of my Letters of Ara e-mail newsletter I share a likeminded brand that is creating beautiful products with respect for both people and the planet. The brand I have chosen to share this month operates in line with a set of values that I respect and resonate with both professionally and personally, as a brand and as a consumer. As such, I wanted to allow a little extra time to explore the purpose and influence behind this month’s special brand. 

Essence + Alchemy (E+A), inspired by the elements of fire, water, air and earth, creates botanical scented goods with a focus on handcrafting sustainable, natural collections with honesty and transparency. Upon first discovering E+A, not long after beginning my own journey with Ara the altar, I felt a real connection to this considered brand which ‘strives to use creative solutions to make a positive impact on the planet’.  

Founder Lesley A Bramwell (with the fitting initials ‘L.A.B’), began her journey as an environmental scientist, with a passion for sustainability. Consequently, Lesley’s product design ensures that ‘products are made with minimal impact on the earth, its people and its organisms’. Lesley considers not only from what materials her products are made but also how and from where they have travelled; how they are packaged; how the energy required to make them is generated; and how any waste will be minimised. I particularly love that E+A handblown glass beakers are designed with reuse in mind and have found Lesley’s low-waste tea-light sets to make well received, considered gifts. I am over the moon to speak with Lesley and to explore and share with you her thoughtful, sustainable, design-led approach. 

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Hello, Lesley – thank you so much for spending a little time with me and Letters of Ara. First of all, please tell us a little about yourself and the path that led you to E+A.

Hello Lauren, thank you for the lovely introduction and inviting me to be part of your beautiful Letters of Ara! 

Where do I start? I suppose my path to Essence + Alchemy was quite a long one, but I’ve always been creative, making home remedies and potions with botanicals and essential oils - bath oils, diffuser blends etc. 

I studied environmental science at university and went onto become a freelance occupational hygiene and environmental consultant working in all kinds of environments and industries. I measured exposure to chemicals and advised on environmental legislation and compliance.  Working with businesses who were passionate about protecting the environment, I knew that when I started E+A, that sustainability would be at the heart of it.

We bought an old run down house a few years ago (which we are still renovating) and in the early days it was very cold and there wasn’t much comfort.  I was travelling around the country Monday to Friday, then chipping plaster off the walls at the weekend.  I think initially I needed a more relaxing creative outlet, an escape from the mess of the house and although not the best conditions to start making candles in with all the dirt and dust, I started experimenting with candle making. I can’t remember the exact moment I started making candles but I remember considering all the different waxes.  Aromatherapy has been part of my daily life since I was a teenager and I’ve always been fascinated with how essential oils work and how they affect our well-being.  From the offset I chose rapeseed wax because of it’s eco credentials and scenting with anything other than essential oils never crossed my mind.  

A few years later, Essence + Alchemy was hatched, bringing together the natural scent and energy of plants (essence) with my scientific and environmental background (alchemy) and launched on line in Spring 2015.

You have created a beautiful concept and brand that entwines the elements, is rooted in environmental science, and creates beautifully designed products responsibly. From where do you take your influence and what do you see as your brand’s purpose? 

Thank you! The brand is strongly influenced by aromatherapy and the theories of alchemy.  I enjoy researching essential oils, their benefits and magical properties.  I also love discovering old alchemical texts and finding out the meanings behind words and symbols.

One of the main beliefs of Alchemy was that there were the four natural elements; air, fire, water and earth and with the right combination of these, any substance could be formed including healing elixirs. I wanted to draw on this idea and create products with purpose, ones that could help promote natural well-being by using only natural plant based ingredients and the practice of aromatherapy.

It is clear that consideration for the planet’s resources influences your decision making. What are some of the decisions you have made to lessen E+A’s environmental impact and why?

I’m fascinated with the elements, how they impact each other, changing the landscape and environmental conditions and how human interference influences these connections causing imbalance in the ecosystem.  

I always consider this in my decision making because I want my business, although small, to cause as little impact on the earth as I can, so I’m always considering how my processes and products will affect the environment and the environmental decisions of my customer.  

Nature is where I draw both my inspiration and raw materials from so it’s vital that I make considered decisions on the materials I use and sourcing so I’m always looking at where the materials come from, are they sustainable, are they ethically sourced and if they don’t tick these boxes I have to start again.  

It’s also important to remember that just because something’s natural, it doesn’t mean it’s safe or it’s been safely extracted.  Many essential oils are solvent extracted with harmful chemicals like petroleum ether and hexane.  I only use steam distilled essential oils because I know it’s a more natural and gentle method of extraction and those solvents haven’t been used in the extraction process. Essential oils are the soul, the life essence of the plant so it’s important not to destroy that by harsh extraction methods.

Another important decision I made at the very beginning was to consider the life cycle of my products, in particular the packaging - what happens to the packaging and glass when the candle is used. With this in mind, I had to think about the glass.  I wanted the glass to be reusable and offer my customers physical candle refills which fit perfectly inside the glass.  The reuse of the glass is something that I’m trying to encourage even more of and I am currently working on a brand refresh with a new glass design to make it even more versatile for reuse. 

What drove the impetus to refresh the brand, and what can we look forward to upon its relaunch?

It’s always hard running a business and making the right decisions.  Sometimes creativity and the need to please can take over.  The decision behind the brand refresh happened towards the end of last year when I realised that I had too many candle size options, I suppose I was trying to please everyone.  I needed to get back to my core values and strip everything right back.  I can’t really reveal too much at this stage but I will be relaunching next month with a new look - glassware and packaging. 

When considering the production process, can you share a little about your practice and the journey you undergo in creating a scent or a product?

When it comes to creating scent, I always start off with the plants, for an example I created a bespoke diffuser scent ‘Land’ for The Plant Room based in Leeds.  It was to scent an installation at the London Design Festival in London last year.  They were creating a landscape of grasses and plants inspired by the Scottish Highlands.  My first step was to look at the plants they were using and also research what was growing in Scotland and worked from there.  

I then look at what essential oils are available and before I decide on whether they can be used,  I check if they are steam distilled as this is the most gentlest form of extraction and also make sure that there aren’t any sustainability or ethical issues. Usually I work by adding a drop of each oil onto scent paper and smell the scents on their own, then with each other to see how they work together.  I then create two to three different blend variations. I let the oils blend together for a few days, return to them and tweak further if required.

Do you find that you experience any particular challenges in staying true to your values, personally as well as professionally? 

Yes definitely.  This is why the brand refresh and product changes are so important. Sometimes when running a business, outside influences can blur your vision and it’s very easy to veer of course sometimes but I think for the most part its easier professionally to stay true to my values.  From a personal perspective, there are always challenges.  I’m not the only decision maker at home so there will be always be compromises.  We’re always looking at ways of reusing things at home.  Whatever comes out of the house renovation has found a new home somewhere else in the house or garden or is waiting to be reused. My husband built our kitchen with wood off-cuts from a kitchen business and most of our furniture is second hand or repaired. 

Finally, what does a typical day look like for you and is there anything in particular that you do to invite a little slowness or self-care into your life and work? 

I’m very fortunate to work from my garden so I don’t have far to go to work.  My mornings are very relaxed and peaceful, the favourite part of my day.  I arrive at the garden lab around 8am and enjoy this quiet time. If the weather is good, I sit outside with a cuppa with Jack my border collie and enjoy the garden for a while.

Before that I generally switch the wax melter on.  It can take a few hours for the wax to melt.  I then catch up with emails and admin while the wax slowly melts away in the background. I make everything to order so every day is different.  I enjoy this way of working, it means that every product is made with intention and I know when I’m pouring a candle, who that candle is for and where it’s going. 

Other times I can be working on creating new scent blends, for E+A or bespoke projects I’m working on or I can be experimenting with new materials or product testing.  It’s very varied, no day is the same. Working with essential oils helps with my mental well-being, I don’t know what I have would have done without aromatherapy in my life and now I get to work with essential oils everyday! 

I’m always in the garden, enjoying the birds chattering away or investigating what’s growing.  At the moment, the Forget-Me-Nots have just started flowering and Tulips are just about to open.  I find that being so close to nature everyday helps slow things down when things start getting a little bit hectic, just being able to step outside for a few minutes is the best tonic.

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A few months down the line, E+A launched their brand refresh.

Read my journal post exploring Lesley’s updated offering, designed with a circular economy in mind.

Anti Waste Hair Accessories

Images by Sarah Victoria Bates for Bug x Glasshouse

I love to see thoughtful, independent businesses come together to create something considered, beautiful and purposeful, so I was over the moon to learn that Bug Clothing and Glasshouse Salon were combining their resources and skills to create a collection of dreamy anti-waste hair accessories.

Looking for a reason to use the abundance of linen scraps as a result of the production process in the Bug Hackney Wick studio, Bug worked together with Glasshouse to dream up and create a selection of three timeless accessories:

• the classic scrunchie

• a head wrap - perfect for the beach or days when you don’t want to wash or deal with your hair

• a hair ribbon - for low pony-tails, low buns, or tying your hair up in a new way

Handmade by Bug founder, Amy Ward and her team, the scrunchie, head wrap and hair ribbon come in a beautiful range of linen colours and weights, available to purchase from both Bug Clothing and Glasshouse Shop.

When this collaboration launched last year I knew it was something I wanted to support. I love the idea of repurposing scraps that would otherwise become waste, together with knowing that the pieces are made from linen, a sustainable, natural material with little reliance on pesticides or water. I have fine, wavy hair that never sits quite right in a pony tail and I chose the hair ribbon in Cardamom. I love using it to tie my locks in a low knot or up in a high pony. It looks effortless and is an easy way to introduce a little pop of colour. I’ve still got my eye on a terracotta scrunchie..

Bug Clothing produce beautiful garments on a small scale using only natural fibres from deadstock designer factory waste. Bug make use of existing excess, rather than contributing to the production of new materials. Bug’s garments ‘reflect the ideology that we should all buy less and admire quality and consideration over quantity’ and they believe that ‘clothing should be comfortable and purposeful, without faulting on style, so we design garments that can be worn for years to come’. I love that Bug creates with longevity in mind, and I have fallen for their Earl jumpsuit.

Glasshouse Salon seek to make natural, organic and ethical hair and beauty more accessible. With a focus on long-term condition of hair, Glasshouse use only products that contain gentle, nourishing, natural ingredients. Their sister shop, Glasshouse Shop, combines the salon’s know-how with the Glasshouse aesthetic, offering unique, professional products that encompass all aspects of beauty - hair, skin and body. The shop takes care to approach hair and beauty needs with high regard to sustainability, considering every brand they stock from a sustainable and ethical perspective.

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Low Waste Washing Up

Our low waste dish washing set up

As part of Plastic Free July last year, one of the things I shared was our low waste dish washing set up and this little collection of tools that my partner and I gradually built up over the years. When taking steps to live more consciously, whilst it can be tempting to replace existing plastic items with more sustainable ones, I’m very much an advocate of first using up what we have. When the time does come to replace any items, we can be sure that we have gotten the most out of them and can feel good about our choice to replace them with something less environmentally impactful.

Whilst these tools all have their uses, the one I reach for most is the coconut scrubbing brush (top left). It’s the perfect size for cups and mugs but it makes cleaning bowls super simple too. Replacement brush heads are available for the wooden handled brush on the right so when the heads reach the end of their life they can go straight into the compost. We also have a large bottle brush that’s great for our reusable water bottles and a less than appealing, old, slightly abrasive cloth that’s useful for the surfaces etc.

One of the more recent additions to our little collection, and the biggest step away from a daily reliance on plastic, was this block of olive soap from Savon de Marseille. As I have a skin contact allergy to fragrance, before I found this, I sourced fragrance free washing up liquid in a plastic bottle. So, to find this fragrance free bar of soap suitable for washing dishes made me very happy. When I posted about this in July 2018 it was still early days but, eight months on and this block of soap has very much become part of our daily habit. Given how well it’s lasted, I expect to get at least 3 more months out of it before we’ll need to replace it. When the time comes, we’ll be looking for another block of soap - we’re definitely converted. For anyone who can’t part with liquid soap, Elsa Lindholm has written a helpful blog post about making your own plastic free dish soap.

Being a natural avoider of dish washing responsibility (!) I do find that using these tactile tools that use natural materials such as wood and coconut fibre make tasks like doing the dishes a little less painful, and a little more mindful.

A few things I’ve learnt along the way:

• to help prolong the life of wooden brushes, it’s worth taking a little time to oil them before first use, and to let them air and dry out throughly after each use - we repurposed a cracked class tumbler to keep them in by the sink but something that would allow them to drain better would be more sensible!

• if you want to give the brushes a good clean, you can do so by soaking them in a little organic white vinegar

• keep the block of soap on a soap dish - we found that it quickly stuck quite firmly to our wooden soap dish (pictured), making it more solid and preventing it from sliding around

• to use the block of soap - rub your brush on it and swish it in the water or apply straight to the dishes. Or, to get the water really soapy for a good soak, hold the block under the tap and run the water over it straight into the basin

• watch out for block soap that has been made using palm oil - there are palm oil free versions available like this one

If you have any tips or recommendations for low waste washing up I’d love to hear them.

Happy dish washing!

Lauren

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Exploring Nature in Art with Hannah Clare

‘Totem’ & ‘Dart’ by Hannah Clare

I sometimes think the demands and distraction that go hand in hand with adulthood cause us to navigate far away from many of the creative endeavours often enjoyed in our earlier days. In my youth I adored drawing and painting but as I grew older and began to focus my education towards a particular career pathway (shoot production), I unintentionally drifted away from the other creative practices with which I was once so absorbed. Now, in trying to adopt a slower, more mindful way of life, I can see the importance in committing a little time to create something.

For a while, my partner and I have been talking about making our own pigments from natural materials (something far outside our wheelhouse). With this in mind, I was delighted to learn that artist, Hannah Clare -who’s work I have admired for some time- had begun exploring with natural ink. Collecting and interacting with the natural landscape is an important part of Hannah’s work which communicates organic forms, patterns and textures using a beautiful, calming tonal palette. With a view to encouraging others to reengage with the creative outlets of their earlier days, and to learn more about the process of working with nature in art, I spent a little time speaking with Hannah to explore her approach and practice.

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Hello, Hannah – Thank you so much for spending some time with me and Letters of Ara. For anyone new to your work, please tell us a little about yourself and how you found your path as an artist?

Hello all! Thanks very much for having me Lauren, I'm so glad to be part of this beautiful project. 

I am Hannah, I am an artist, I live in sunny, blustery Brighton. I have loved making for art as long as I can remember but I suppose it became a really significant part of my life as a teenager, I loved art at school and creativity was how I expressed myself in my own time too. After leaving school I took a BTEC in Art & Design for 2 years, It felt like a dream to go straight into studying art full time. Then I fell in love with Brighton and got a place to study illustration at the University of Brighton 2006. I chose illustration because my work always fell somewhere between fine art and design, and I liked the idea of developing my own visual language and being able to respond to anything in this way. These were an amazing, immersive and playful few years but I struggled with where my work fit in the illustration world and being an introverted person, I ended up feeling a bit burnt out by education by the end. So I've spent the years since then slowly finding my voice and confidence as an artist, realising my love for abstract work and honing a practice which combines my love of art and nature. 

How would you summarise your work? 

My works are mixed-media collages, arrangements of mark-making, drawing, printed and found material, and more recently, natural inks. I have always thought of these pieces as visual poems or microcosms. They are culminations of time spent walking, gathering, reading, making marks, creating colours, printmaking, responding to an experience or something I've collected. The final piece captures a place, season, time and memory. My work has always been informed by the natural world; since I was a child I have loved immersing myself in nature and I have always found joy in gathering things, noticing small creatures, textures, colours and being aware of the changes each season brings.

I start by working freely on making marks, shapes, colours and patterns, working intuitively. Then I create carefully considered compositions, thinking about how the elements communicate with each other, how they balance as a whole, this process can be meditative for me, it's like finding order in the chaos.

I really like that you described my pieces as using a calming palette, as people have often considered me to be a calming influence as a person, and spending time in nature has always had a calming affect on me, so it's nice to think of my artwork as being a continuation of that and having that affect on others too. 

From where do you find yourself taking influence and inspiration? 

I collect and gather things from my walks; grasses, lichen, seed pods, shells, pebbles, feathers... I might physically use these in mark-making, printing or making ink, or they might find their way into my work in some abstract form, the shape, colour or texture. 

I've always loved the work of the land artists, contemporary artists and sculptors working with nature and landscape, I love the aesthetics of working with natural materials, as well as the ephemeral nature of some of their work. 

I also find inspiration in poetry, nature-writing, folklore and music, I'm drawn to things that balance beauty, poetry and darkness. I love the duality of things, nature can be beautiful and terrifying, life is funny and tragic, a person can be wonderful and awful. Firm favourites have been Tove Jansson, Alice Oswald, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes. I make lists of words that I like when reading, these often end up being used as titles for my pieces too. 

One aspect to which I am particularly drawn is the presence of natural ink in your work, ink that you make yourself. Please can you explain a little about how you were drawn to this method, and what this process involves? 

I became interested in the process of natural dyeing a couple of years ago, I loved the idea of foraging or growing your own colours and physically linking a piece back to a place, time and a part of nature. After experimenting together with my Mum (who also makes plant dyed textiles) we took a course with Jane Meredith in Herefordshire and spent a weekend at her cottage on the beautiful riverbanks of the Wye, picking plants from her garden, dyeing, felting and weaving, surrounded by willows and kingfishers. I was really taken with the process but it took me until the last few months really to turn this knowledge into ink making and work similar processes into my own practice. I also recently discovered the work of Jason Logan of The Toronto Ink Company and his book 'Make Ink' which has been a huge inspiration, and in turn led me to discover lots of other artists creating really beautiful things with natural inks and pigments. 

There are a few ways to make ink, but it's hard to go wrong as it's an experimental process. Simply put, you can steep or boil plant matter in water for as long as it takes to get a colour you are happy with, you can use a fixative to help preserve the colour, and if needed, a thickener to create a good texture for drawing or writing. If you are foraging you need to know about what you are handling, if things are poisonous, do your research and remember the golden rules of foraging: if you can't name it, don't pick it and only pick what you need. There are also lots of things you can use to create natural colour which you'll find in your own kitchen - coffee, red cabbage, avocado pits, onion skins, this is a good place to start, and a great way to use waste!

Do you find that there are challenges to working with natural materials?

The blessings can also be a curse, but that's what makes it exciting. Most natural inks are fugitive, which means they will change and fade over time and they can go off, it's part of working with something that is organic. You also have to be aware that if you find a plant that works or makes a colour you really love, it might only be available for a couple of weeks of the year, so you have to be in tune with what is in season or you might miss it! This is all still an ongoing learning process for me but I have always enjoyed that element of serendipity. I love that you don't quite know what you're going to get, and that you might never make the same colour twice. 

‘Flint’ & ‘Nacre’ by Hannah Clare

What can we look forward to seeing from Hannah Clare in the future, and is there a particular direction in which you might like to see your practice develop or take you? 

I am excited about spending the forthcoming year exploring natural ink-making and seeing what the seasons bring me. I've just decided to create a series of seasonal prints over the next year so I'm working on that at the moment. I’d love to bring more printmaking elements into my work, so maybe I’ll make than an aim for the next year or so!

What do you do to invite slower, more mindful practice into your life and work? 

Spending time outdoors and time by myself is a big part of my creative process and important to me in general, as doing these things also help me to recharge and keep balanced. I've learnt that as an introverted person, I function better in all aspects of my life when I have given myself the time to just walk and think, or sit and write. I live by writing lists and journalling, I have found for a long time that this practice helps me organise my thoughts, focus on what I want to achieve, visualise my ideas and reflect on things I've done or things I've learnt about myself. I also keep a 'good things' list for every month, to take moments to acknowledge little things I have found joy in, my version of the gratitude journal. 

Finally, do you have any advice for anyone thinking of trying or revisiting a creative outlet? 

Just enjoy the doing, trust your instincts and try not to compare yourself to others. The more you 'do' the more you learn, build momentum and confidence.

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I am so grateful to Hannah for sharing this insight into her practice. You can find Hannah’s beautiful artwork here and follow more of Hannah’s ink making process via Instagram.

Slow Tea

Slow living, whilst embracing a simpler approach, shouldn’t mean denying ourselves that which brings us joy. For me, slowing down is about allowing myself time to make my experiences more meaningful. To choose more consciously, and to appreciate the beauty and benefit of something, with respect for people and the planet along the way.

Probably my favourite way to incorporate a little slowness into my everyday is through the process of preparing tea. Looking for less impactful ways to consume tea, I moved to teabags free from bleach & plastic (Clipper is a good place to start) and for a while now I’ve been in the habit of enjoying loose leaf. Not only does it eliminate the need for unnecessary plastic, but it can also be purchased in bulk to further minimise waste and, ultimately, you’re more aware of what you’re consuming.

My personal go-to teas are earl grey first thing (I don’t consume dairy so I don’t take milk but my preference is to have it black) and then usually a light green throughout the day. What I particularly love about loose leaf tea is how it naturally encourages you to take your time and focus purely on the simple task in hand. 

There’s something of a ritual about the process of measuring out what you need for your cup or pot, pouring the water over and not straying too far whilst it brews to just the right amount. It’s a full sensory experience: the aroma; feeling the warmth of the tea through the ceramic of the cup in my hands; sipping and savouring the tea, all of which allows me to connect to the present moment and experience what I have made, mindfully. 

If you are looking to minimise your waste at work as well as at home, it’s easier to make the switch than you might think once you are in the habit as there are lots of tea strainer options on the market intended for single-cup use rather than a pot. I personally find it a real pleasure to use natural or tactile materials in the process. This bamboo tea strainer and organic tea are from the lovely Parigotte, a beautiful company selling responsibly sourced and packaged loose leaf tea.

I hope this inspires you to invite a little slowness into your everyday.

Lauren

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Recommended listening: If you’re looking for audio inspiration to accompany your time with your tea, I highly recommend the dreamy Opium Tea by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Pictured

Bar Pendants I & II

Bamboo tea strainer & wooden spoon | Parigotte

Stoneware mug | Consall Forge Pottery from Form Lifestyle Store

Navigating a Low Waste Lifestyle with Elsa Lindholm

Images by Elsa Lindholm

Attempting to navigate your way through a low waste lifestyle can be a little daunting and even overwhelming. For me, Instagram has been a great resource for knowledge, encouragement and support and I find it to be an invaluable place via which to share experiences and learn from others who are taking steps in their daily lives to live in a less impactful way. To support my own low-impact approach, I follow a number of inspiring individuals, one of whom, is the lovely @elsaannukka

With an MSc in Environmental Entrepreneurship, Elsa is passionate about the notion of a circular economy. I was particularly drawn to the hands on, DIY approach adopted by Elsa. As well as documenting her own low waste approach with beautiful imagery, Elsa also manages a social media campaign #roamresponsibly, raising awareness to preserve Scotland’s stunning and unique landscapes, something that is of great interest to me, particularly given my own infatuation with the Scottish highlands.

Elsa and I initially connected over an affection for bar soap, having both left behind liquid shampoo, and more recently we shared some thoughts over our mutual disheartened response to the October 2018 IPCC report, within which the world’s leading climate scientists warned that we have only 12 years left to limit the climate change catastrophe ahead. 

I was really interested to learn more about Elsa’s approach to low waste living and to gain a little insight from her unique perspective, for anyone thinking of taking steps to lessen their environmental impact. 

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Elsa – thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me for Letters of Ara. In the first instance, please can you tell us a little about yourself and what led you to embark on your low waste lifestyle. 

Lauren, thank you! I am very honoured to get to be a part of Letters of Ara. I admire what you and your business stand for - so much thought has gone into everything you produce and share!

Originally from Finland, I moved to Glasgow six and a half years ago to study Earth Science and then continued to do my masters in Environmental Entrepreneurship. Quite early on in my life, I came to realise how strongly we depend on our environment and became concerned about our impact on the environment. My dream was to study and work in the environmental field and that’s where it all started. At university I worked on a couple of sustainability projects with local businesses and organisations and loved the hands-on approach and helping these businesses and organisations to get a step closer to sustainability. 

When my partner got a job offer in Birmingham and we moved into our own place, I was inspired to really start thinking about the way I (and we) live, how I could change my lifestyle and lower my impact on the environment. Sharing my journey with family, friends and followers felt like a great idea and a chance to perhaps inspire, help and encourage others to make a change too. I now work in a digital start-up and spend my free time sharing about my journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle. 

 

What do you feel most positive about having taken steps in your life to minimise your environmental impact?

What I find the most rewarding is seeing people around me start thinking about lowering their environmental impact. I sometimes get messages from friends telling me that they have made such and such zero waste swap after seeing my Instagram or blog posts - that is incredibly heartwarming. I used to be quite sceptical about the amount of power one person’s actions can have, but now strongly believe the old cheesy saying to be true: ‘Many small streams make one big river’. If I can make one person think or even change their lifestyle with one of my posts, that is a positive change. There are so many wonderful entrepreneurs and small businesses, like yourself and Ara the altar, driving change and promoting more sustainable values. I feel we can and already have made a change togeth

Whilst you manage to make it look effortless (!) what have you found the most challenging aspect of adopting a low waste approach? 

Having grown up and lived a quarter of a century in a highly consumerist society, it is sometimes really difficult to make the right decisions. Taking a low waste approach has required me to change many of my habits and really fundamentally change the way that I think. It can be time consuming and expensive to find the right kind of products and frustrating when you realise that often the perfectly sustainable alternatives just don’t exist yet. I am not saying this to put anyone off, but many times I have come to realise how sustainability is not at all black and white - it is mostly grey, and with every decision I make, I try to weigh the different types of impact that my decision has. It can be hard work sometimes but it does get easier and helps you to be more mindful about everything that you do.

 

What would be your advice for anyone wanting to lessen their impact?

When you have lived a good bit of your life with certain habits, it can be tough to break them or to be open to trying something different. I laugh at this now, but at the start of my zero waste journey I was certain that I would absolutely hate using bar soaps and shampoos and that they would not work. However, I decided to give it a go and try for a couple of months before making my mind up - turns out bar soaps are fantastic! I love them now. So, leave aside your prejudices and give it a go!

I would also recommend tackling one thing at a time. You want to be able to make changes in your lifestyle that will last and I think the more stable and sustainable way to make these changes is to slowly ease yourself into it. I did the Marine Conservation Society’s #GoPlasticFree challenge last July and noticed that even though I had a lot of time on my hands, I could not change everything all at once. I decided to go about it step by step and that has been really helpful. A good example would be trying to minimise plastic food packaging: I started with buying loose veg and fruit and once I got into the habit of that I started buying my dry cupboard foods plastic free, then meat etc. 

 

Given your passion for a circular economy, do you think that we are seeing a change in supplier behaviour or consumer demand towards a more circular economy mindset? 

I think we are moving towards the right direction, but at the moment we seem to be stuck in a recycling-focused mindset. Recycling is a great way to keep a material circulating and to minimise the amount of virgin materials needed in production, but recycling also requires energy (although usually less energy than using virgin materials) and most of the materials that we use cannot be recycled indefinitely. 

If we want to be more circular, we of course need to consider recycling as an important part of the whole circular system, but we also need to consider the other steps of circular economy, like sharing, reusing (second-hand as an example of this is luckily becoming more and more popular), repairing, remanufacturing, refurbishing and, most importantly, circular design and offering products that will last and can be repaired and remanufactured. A good example of this is my recent search for a food processor. I have been putting off buying one, because I don’t really want to buy something that works for a year and then breaks. Repairing it would probably cost more than buying a new one or, even worse, it could be impossible and I would be left a piece of junk that I now need to try to recycle in one way or another (if I have the correct services and facilities accessible to me to do that).

I believe we will get there but circular economy requires rather drastic changes to be made, so it will take time.

Following the release of the critical IPCC report what, if anything, do you think that we as individuals can do?

That is an excellent question. As I discussed with you at the time, when the report came out, I felt and still feel quite powerless in this situation. Our climate is changing scarily fast: according to the IPCC report, it is likely that we will reach 1.5 C warming between years 2030 and 2052 - that is potentially just 11 years away! The report also emphasised how limiting global warming to 1.5 C, instead of 2 C mentioned by the Paris agreement, would have significantly more manageable impact worldwide. Still a huge impact, but not quite as devastating. 

So, we need to move fast and in order for that to happen we need to get our governments to act. How can we do this? I am going to be honest: I am not at all sure. Talking about climate change more would certainly make a difference. We humans have the ability to forget things quickly - both blessing and a curse. We tend to joke or mention climate change in passing, when we encounter symptoms of it, but the next day we have moved on. The current world politics really don’t help much either. 

I would encourage everyone to talk about it with your friends and family, make decisions in your own life to lower your carbon footprint and maybe even get involved with a relevant organisation. Make sure that whenever you have a chance, you try and affect decision making. The 15-year-old, Swedish Greta Thonberg is a great example of how just a regular person can have a voice and make a difference by speaking up and demanding more to be done to protect the planet that we all depend on.

 

I love the notion of #roamresponsibly, please can you tell us a little more about this. What can people do if they want to get involved?

Scotland is one of the handful of countries in the world that has such wide Outdoor Access Rights, which means that everyone has the right to enjoy nature in Scotland. About two years ago, Scotland’s Instagrammer community was becoming increasingly concerned about degradation of natural sites. An increased amount of visitors and traffic had already caused visible erosion, damage to nature and increased the amount of waste that is left behind. Instagram is a powerful trend setter and there is no doubt that it also helped to increase tourism in Scotland. I felt that the community clearly had power to influence people’s choices, so why not use that for something good and promote how we can enjoy Scotland’s beauty it in a more responsible manner.  That’s when I put the campaign together with the help of a couple of fellow Instagrammers. I put together a charter, which many Scotland’s Instagrammers signed and also put up a website and Instagram account for our campaign. We managed to partner up with some great businesses and organisations and I am hoping that we get to partner up with many more this coming year. 

I am currently in the process of planning a new campaign for the summer and if you are a business or organisation and want to be involved, please contact us through www.roamresponsibly.com. If you are an individual, I would love to hear your stories about how to enjoy time outdoors and travel in Scotland more responsibly and sustainably. You can get in touch with us either through the Roam Responsibly website or Instagram and use the hashtag #RoamResponsibly.

 

Is there anything that we can bear in mind to ensure that we remain responsible wherever we roam? 

Every action we take has an impact. Understanding how important nature and the environment are to us is key. Never leave a trace, is probably the most effective piece of advice to bear in mind. Don’t leave rubbish behind and don’t disturb or hurt nature or wildlife. Also, respect people around you, those who live in the area that you may be visiting and get their livelihoods from the land that you are walking on. Perhaps, you could set yourself a goal of doing a 2-minute beach/pathway/roadside clean everywhere you go, even in a park near you. We get so much good from nature and we really ought to also give something back and not take it for granted.

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Thank you so much to Elsa for sharing her time with me and Letters of Ara. You can follow Elsa’s journey via her Instagram and website.

Welcome to Letters of Ara

Artwork from my January newsletter - subscribe here

Welcome to my very first Letters of Ara journal post as we embark on a shiny new year. Thank you so much to anyone who has shared my journey so far, and to anyone joining me now. I’m over the moon to share this space with you as 2019 begins to unfold.

For anyone who didn’t catch my A Responsible Brand #aresponsiblebrand Sunday Series on Instagram throughout the end of 2018, Letters of Ara will be comprised of this online journal along with a monthly e-mail newsletter that together will create a space in which to explore areas of influence and interest for Ara the altar. As well as providing a space for me to communicate more regularly with this community, Letters of Ara will also give space to others via interviews that will feature in the newsletters and here on the journal.

As my intention to live my life with minimal environmental impact is so intrinsically linked to the way I run my small business, I’ll also begin sharing a little more of my own approach to slow, more considered living. For every newsletter on the first Sunday of each month, I will gather together seasonal information and ideas for living in a slower, more earth-aware way. I’ll share insights into what goes on behind the brand and the ethical and sustainable considerations that feed into Ara the altar, as well as personal recommendations for like-minded brands, creating beautiful objects with respect for people and the planet.

Every newsletter will explore five key sections:

• On the altar | a closer look at a featured product or collection

• Behind the altar | an insight into what’s going on behind the brand

• Earth-aware | ideas & information for sustainable living

• Share | recommendations for like minded, responsible brands

• Slow | ideas for slowing down and embracing a more mindful way of living

The first newsletter, to be released on Sunday 6th January 2019, is intended to ease you into the new year, exploring the month and highlighting a few key astronomical points in the calendar, sharing product recommendations including ethical underwear and a simple but enjoyable swap to help live a little more sustainably. The January letter will also explore the meaning behind Ara the altar’s branding and a particular form of self-care practice via an interview with an individual who’s path has previously crossed with Ara the altar. If you have yet to subscribe to my mailing list you can join here.

I would love for this space to be something that feels really valuable to you and for this to be a two way conversation. If there’s ever anything in particular that you’d like me to explore in a journal post or as part of the newsletter, I would absolutely love to hear from you - please comment below, send me an e-mail or DM me via Instagram.

If, in the meantime, you’d like to explore more of my ethical and sustainable approach, you can do so here and you can learn a little more about me and Ara the altar here.

For now, have a lovely day.

Lauren

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